I am leaving it in hands of God

She is also insisting that Lester Pitman is innocent of the murders of three members of a Cascade family.

Etta Pitman of Maitagual in San Juan, a staunch Pentecostal and a member of the Trinidad Christian Centre, said she remains in a state of uneasiness after being told that the death warrant had been read to her grandson on Wednesday.

The elderly woman told Newsday that she raised Lester since he was a baby, and tried to instil good values in him.

She described her 28-year-old grandson as a follower, rather than a leader.

Pitman believes her grandson is innocent of the killings of Englishman John Cropper and two relatives at a Cascade house on December 11, 2001.

According to Etta, on the day of the killings, her grandson was at home doing chores for his mother when he was asked by a man to accompany him somewhere.

She added that Pitman never said "no" to his friends, and believes he was lured to the Cascade house by the real killer.

The emotional woman said the system of justice in Trinidad and Tobago is questionable and feels that her grandson should not have been convicted of the killings.

Pitman’s neighbour, Ingrid Forde, said she also took care of Lester when he was a baby, and he was always respectful to the people around him.

"I did not sleep last night and I have been crying ever since I heard the news," said Forde in an interview with Newsday.

On July 14, 2004, Pitman and 23-year-old Daniel Agard were convicted of killing John Cropper, his mother-in- law Maggie Lee, 83, and sister-in-law Lynette Lithgow Pearson, 51, a former British Broadcasting Corporation anchorwoman. The three victims were found bound and gagged in the bathroom of the Croppers’ Cascade home. Their throats had been slit.

The Appeal Court ordered that Agard be put on a new trial in March this year, but affirmed Pitman’s conviction.

Cropper’s wife, Independent Senator Angela Cropper, who was out of the country at the time of the murders, said in an interview with Newsday that she opposed the death penalty. Pitman filed a notice with the Appeal Court since April 22 this year, indicating that he wished to appeal to the Privy Council. He has not yet exhausted his appeals.

On Wednesday at4 pm, a death warrant was read to Pitman at the Port-of-Spain prison, just 48 hours after Attorney General John Jeremie’s announcement that hangings would resume.

Yesterday, the scene at Maitagual was a sombre one.

Neighbours, friends and relatives of Pitman said they were all praying for a stay of execution and are hoping that divine intervention takes place, and Pitman is given a second chance.