Teen killed, woman stabbed, boy abducted, house gutted

A 46-YEAR-OLD prisons officer reportedly stabbed and killed his 17-year-old stepdaughter with a screwdriver, critically stabbed his girlfriend, attempted to kill his own son, and then ended his fit of rage by burning down his family home at Malabar on Good Friday. After his rampage the man then sought the assistance of a former convict to help him escape, but the convict instead reported him to the police. According to the police, the prisons officer was involved in a domestic dispute with his ex-wife which had reached the court. The whole bloody incident started when he stabbed his girlfriend at the family home, and he then took his stepdaughter and his 12-year-old son in his car and drove them to a lonely trace at Centeno, where he fatally stabbed the girl and threw her body over a fence.

He then turned the screwdriver to his son who begged for his life. The killer then drove to Arima where he dropped off the traumatised boy. He later drove to Malabar and set the house on fire. A short distance away he abandoned his car. Police arrested him around 6 am yesterday at a house at Mottley Trace, Pinto Road, Arima, and he was taken to the La Horquetta Police Station where he was being questioned up to late yesterday. The boy, who allegedly witnessed the brutal murder of his sister, gave a statement to the police on the incident. He was accompanied to the police station by his mother, Antoinette Cox Frederick, who wept uncontrollably over the death of her daughter.

According to police reports, between 2 pm and 4 pm on Friday, Gracelyn Frederick, 24, the suspect’s girlfriend, was at a house at Semp Avenue, Malabar, when she was stabbed several times about the body. The unconscious bleeding woman was then placed in a vehicle and taken to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital by a man who quickly fled the scene. Frederick was treated for stab wounds at the hospital. The police were alerted but were unable to get key information from her because of her condition. She is warded at the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit in critical condition. The suspect later returned to the Semp Avenue house where siblings Giselle Frederick, 17, and Kevin Frederick, 12, were spending the long Easter weekend. Police said the youngsters were unaware of the earlier stabbing incident.

The suspect offered to take them for a drive. Instead, he took them to a trace in Centeno and took out a screwdriver from the trunk of his car which he used to stab the teenager about her body. This brutal attacked was witnessed by Kevin, who begged for his life be spared. The boy later told police his sister’s body was thrown over a fence on Mausica Road. At around 7 pm on Friday, the boy was dropped off at the home of a relative and he contacted his mother who took him to the Malabar Police Station. Officers responded to the report and arrived at Semp Avenue to discover that the house had been set on fire. Fire Officers from the Arima Fire Station were alerted but by the time they arrived, the house was completely engulfed in flames. Fire officers broke down a door to get inside the house but almost everything inside was destroyed. Only the kitchen area remained intact.

Police investigators believe the suspect returned to the house after killing the teenager and set the house on fire. He reportedly went to the home of an ex-convict and told him what he had done. The ex-convict promised to help the killer to flee the country on Saturday night, but instead tipped-off the police on where he was hiding out. Around 6 pm yesterday, officers surrounded the Mottley Trace, Pinto Road, Arima home of a woman and arrested the suspect. The owner of the house expressed shock at the arrest claiming that she was unaware of the killings and the fire. She gave a statement to the police.

Around 9 am yesterday, Giselle’s body was found and ordered removed to the Forensic Science Centre. Police officers told Sunday Newsday the suspect was owing thousands of dollars in child support and had attempted to burn down his house a few months ago. The recently divorced man was supposed to begin the sharing of his property and other assets. The prisons officer, who was based at the Port-of-Spain Prison, was on sick leave at the time of the incident.

Yesterday, Prisons Commissioner John Rougier said he was in contact with the police about the incident and is leaving the matter in their hands. Assistant Commissioner of Police Randolph Protain,  Supt Fitzroy Frederick, Sgt Don Lezama, Cpl Thalia Francis and others visited the scene and are continuing inquiries.