Man held for killing brother

FED UP of being lectured by his older relative about his drinking habit, a 24-year-old Couva man reportedly plunged a fishing harpoon into the elder relative’s chest during the early morning hours yesterday. The victim subsequently died at the San Fernando General Hospital (SFGH). Sumarnath Santoo, 32, aka “Curtis,” languished in pain for over three hours before dying at the hospital, with the harpoon still deep inside his chest. At daybreak, the suspect walked into the Couva police station and confessed to police, that he had killed his brother. The murder occurred in a fishing village at Carli Bay, where Santoo lived with his brothers Steve, Sunil and Mesh. Another brother, Bobby, who lived next door, told Newsday it was around 1.45 am when one of his younger male relatives came home in a drunken stupor after liming.

Bobby, a former Caroni (1975) Ltd worker, said his brother Curtis, who was a strict follower of the Seventh Day Adventist faith, started quarrelling with the intoxicated relative, admonishing him about his drinking habit. “Normally when he (Curtis) talked to him (suspect name called) about the drinking, he (the suspect) would go and sleep,” Bobby said. As the argument ended, police were told, Curtis went to a hammock downstairs the small wooden family house to sleep, while the suspect went to bed. Later that morning, the suspect took up an 18-inch long lance, which was used in the family fishing trade, and plunged it into Curtis who was asleep in the hammock. Curtis was rushed to the Couva District Medical Centre where he was treated and transferred to the SFGH, where he died around 4.30 am.