Heads of woman, child almost severed’

Sgt George Cudjoe, who is attached to the Central Division Criminal Investigations Department, said he also saw a cutlass and a bloodstained shirt near to the bodies. At the time of the gruesome discovery, Cudjoe was attached to the St James Police Station. He told the court that he is a crime scene and fingerprint expert in the Police Service.

Peter Cadette, 42, is before Justice Anthony Carmona in the Port-of-Spain Fourth Criminal Court charged with the murders of his estranged wife Grace Barbour-Cadette and his one-year-old son Jabari on March 10, 2002 in Diego Martin.

State attorneys Kathy-Ann Waterman-Latchoo and Joy Balkaran are prosecuting, while St Clair Douglas and Wendy Dougdeen-Bally represent Cadette. Hearing resumes on Monday.

Cudjoe said that on March 10, 2002, he was on duty in St James when he received a request from Insp Anthony Lezama. He went to the end of Roxborough Street, Diego Martin, where he met Supt Nadir Mohammed and Insp Lezama.

He said Lezama showed him an area near a bamboo patch. He saw the bodies of a woman and a child in the bamboo patch. Cudjoe also noticed blood in the grass.

"I approached the bodies and I carried out an examination on the female body. The body was clad in a black shirt, black underwear, black sandals, a green jersey and braided hair. I also noticed that the head was almost severed from the rest of the body." Cudjoe said there was an injury to the woman’s face. The body was lying on the right side, but the head was facing in an upward direction. He carried out an examination of the fingernails for skin residue, but found none. When asked why he did this, Cudjoe said this was done primarily to determine if the woman could have struggled with anyone before her death.

Cudjoe then carried out an examination of the child. The child’s head was almost severed and there was an injury to the right elbow. The child was clad in a multi-coloured baby suit, a blue pamper, and a pair of black sandals.

Cudjoe found a cutlass about six to eight feet away from the bodies.

There was also a piece of cloth near the woman’s body. He examined the cloth and realised it was a short sleeved shirt with multiple blood stains.

Two days later, Cudjoe took the items to the Forensic Science Centre for analysis. The forensic report was admitted into evidence and read to the jury. The bloodstained shirt and cutlass were also admitted into evidence.

The other witness was police photographer PC Wayne Phillips. He told the court that he had gone to Diego Martin where he took photographs. Seven photos were presented to the court and admitted into evidence and shown to the jury.

Three of the photographs showed the bodies of the woman and the child. At least three jurors showed some discomfort watching the photographs. One actually looked away when the police photographer was explaining it to the court.