Retiree beaten, stabbed and partially burnt

“We heard nothing, absolutely nothing. This has shocked the entire village. Len always had a smile when he met you. He was a darling. If he walked the road and saw you sad or looking worried, he would try to get you to smile. That is the type of man he was,” said a resident. At about 2 pm on Monday, a female friend paid Fortune a visit only to find a section of his Ibis Street house burnt. When she entered the bedroom, the woman saw Fortune’s body and contacted police.

Fortune, a retiree of the Agriculture, Land and Fisheries Ministry’s Forestry Division lived alone.

The house was ransacked and police believe he fought with robbers who overpowered and killed him. Police said his body was placed under a mattress which was then set on fire.

An autopsy at the Forensic Science Centre in St James yesterday revealed Fortune died as a result of multiple stab and blunt force trauma injuries. A resident said she last saw him alive on Saturday evening and added that his death was nothing short of, “horrifying.” “He didn’t deserve that. He was a retiree who lived alone and kept to himself. It is hard to see an innocent man go in such manner. Here is a quiet place,” stated one of Fortune’s neighbours.

Insp Banwarie together with PC Bahjan and others from the Point Fortin CID visited the scene. No arrests has been made and Insp Corrie of the Homicide Investigations Bureau (Region III) is continuing investigations