Death sentence for Toco killer

A CUMANA man was yesterday sentenced to hang after he was found guilty of the murders of a mother of three and her six-year-old son. After one hour and thirty minutes of deliberation the jury found Neil “Redman” Hernandez, of Moraldo Trace, Guayama Village, Cumana guilty of killing Christine and Phillip Henry. As the sentence was being read in the Port-of-Spain Fourth Criminal Court by Justice Malcolm Holdip, Hernandez slowly shook his head. The State’s case was that around 10 am on May 2, 2000, Christine and her three children, all of Moraldo Trace, left to go to the beach, while her common-law husband Everton “Breddo” Williams, a caretaker at a nearby estate, left for work. Approximately 30 minutes later, Williams was given some disturbing news and when he ran to the beach he found Phillip lying on his back motionless, with chop wounds to his head.

Christine lay some distance away with chop wounds to her neck, hand and behind her ear.  She was taken to the Cumana Health Centre and later to the Sangre Grande Hospital, where she died on May 6. Before she died, she identified “Redman” as the man who had chopped her and her son. Hernandez was arrested and taken to the Toco Police Station, where he gave a statement on May 4. In the statement, he had admitted chopping the two, following an argument with Christine. However, he said, he had only meant to “planass” them. He was charged with the double murder on May 8, by Cpl Wight. The judge thanked the 12-member panel for a job well done, adding that based on the evidence presented by the State, the court was in concurrence with the verdict.