Mayaro child-killer dies of HIV illness

CHILD-killer Marcus Wharwood, 29, who was to appear at the Mayaro Magistrates’ Court on Thursday to answer charges of murdering (beating to death) his 18-month-old daughter Shania last month, has died of an HIV-related complication. According to reports, Wharwood, who began complaining of pain over the last week and broke into convulsions over the weekend, was rushed to the Port-of-Spain Gen-eral Hospital where he succumbed to his complaints.

He was at the time in Remand Yard at Golden Grove Prison, Arouca, awaiting his return to court, when the pain started. Wharwood, it was observed, was always pulling up his pants when he last appeared before Magistrate Indrani Cedeno on February 5. The former convict had confessed that he became angry when the child, whom he believed was not his, had urinated on the bed. In his anger, Wharwood beat the tiny tot about her body with a leather belt, then burnt her buttocks with a piece of smoldering wood before biting her. He warned the child’s mother, Avion King, not to interfere, at their Radix Village, Mayaro home. The child was found dead the next morning on the bed.

The parents at first carried the lifeless body to the police station, claiming they found her dead. After questioning, however, Wharwood admitted his guilt and was charged with the killing. The dead man was released from prison last October after serving an 18-month term for marijuana possession. King is the mother of three-year-old Isiah King. When contacted, police sources told Newsday they had no idea that Wharwood was HIV-positive. They, however, said that he lived a very “loose life with women and drugs and had been jailed more than once.”