MYSTERY

Dwayne Hovell, an employee of the Tobago Regional Health Authority left home last week Friday saying he was, “going down the road.” He has not been seen or heard from since.

Police said they are working on reports that he struck up a conversation with a Trinidad woman via social media website Facebook and is believed to have journeyed to Trinidad to meet her.

However, Hovell’s wife Christiana yesterday insisted their marriage is strong, they had no major disagreements and he would not go after another woman.

Hovell’s disappearance was reported to the Old Grange Police Station and calls to his cell phone have gone unanswered. Police said they have information that Hovell was supposed to meet up with the woman who is either from Beetham or Sea Lots. Hovell was last seen by his family at 5 pm last Friday.

Yesterday, Christiana said the last time she saw her husband was on Friday last when he was leaving a pharmacy in Scarborough at 3 pm. She said that Hovell, 38, whom she married five years ago, spent all of the Shouter Baptist holiday with her at their Mount Grace home and last Friday, when he was leaving for work, he told her she would not be seeing him for the weekend because he had to do some work on a house he was building in Bethel.

According to Christiana, she did not find anything strange when her husband did not call her last weekend or even on Monday and Tuesday. When Hovell’s mother contacted Christiana on Wednesday and asked about his whereabouts, Christiana said, she was surprised to learn that he was missing.

She said she too tried contacting him on his cellphone. “I am worried about him because he has never done this before. As far as I know, we have an excellent relationship and I do not know him to be a person on Facebook and I doubt very much that he went to Trinidad to meet another woman. If that is so then it will be very surprising to me. Right now all I want to know is that he is all right and not in any harm or danger,” she said.

Christiana told Newsday her husband’s disappearance is a mystery. Mindful of the rampant crime situation and the fact that several missing persons have turned up dead, she is begging members of the public who may have seen him or know of his whereabouts, to contact the nearest police station or 639-8888.

MINISTER WORRIED Minister of Tourism Shamfa Cudjoe yesterday described Hovell as a quiet and church-going individual, but added, “he likes his little lime.” The Tobago West MP said it was highly unusual Hovell would stay away from his family for such a long period. “I met him in 1994, when I was in Standard Three. We went to the same church and I am very familiar with his family...his mother, sister, grandmother. I spoke with his aunt yesterday and I am very familiar with him.

“We are very worried at this point in time. We are hoping he is found alive. There is no confirmation that he made it to Trinidad.

His sister said he came from work and took a shower, put on a grey t-shirt, red pants and some shoes and said he was going down the road to come back.

That is the information that I got from the family,” Cudjoe said.

Cudjoe said she and Hovell attended the Montgomery Moravian Church in Bethel Village.

“He was supposed to meet with his wife with whom he has one child, but she has other children from a previous relationship.

Somebody said they saw him on a flight going to Trinidad on Friday last,” Cudjoe said.

She added that several calls had been made to his cell phone, some went straight to voice mail, others were picked up, but not answered.

When contacted yesterday evening, communications officer with Caribbean Airlines (CAL) Dionne Ligoure said she could not reveal whether Hovell had booked a flight to Trinidad from Tobago, last Friday, citing regulations regarding CAL customer confidentiality.