Man handcuffed, stabbed to death

“It was the car they wanted. It was the car they killed him for.

Knowing him, Norris would not have gone in that remote area to drop off any passenger. It had to be robbery and nothing else. He was not a criminal. Norris was a very good man,” a relative said yesterday.

Mendoza, 44, also called Norrisman lived at Poui Road in St Mary’s Village, Moruga with his wife Christie, and their two children. He plied the St Mary’s Village/Princes Town taxi route with his blue station- wagon. Police reported that at about 10 pm on Wednesday, officers observed a blue Nissan Wingroad abandoned at the side of the road along a bushy area at Second Branch Road, Fifth Company in Moruga. On looking inside the vehicle, the officers saw blood stains on the driver and front passenger seats as well as a trail of blood leading to nearby bushes. Because the place was not properly lit with street lights, the officers had to use flashlights to manoeuvre through the bushes. Several feet away, they found Mendoza’s body lying face down. He was handcuffed. The body was removed to the Forensic Science Centre for an autopsy.

Relatives described the victim as a hard-working family man. “Norris was a fun-loving man. He also did construction work. This had to be a robbery. I believe they (killers) went to dump the body but same time saw the police vehicle and fled,” a relative said. No arrest has been made and investigations are continuing.