LEAVE MEH ALONE

Hovell, who did not answer several calls to his cellular phone made by his worried wife Christiana and other relatives and friends over the past seven days, answered yesterday when Newsday called at 2 pm. Hovell made it clear he was not missing and had simply taken time off for a week in Trinidad, “to breeze out” and chose not to tell anyone he was travelling to Trinidad.

Hovell said he prefers not to discuss why he wanted to spend a week in Trinidad but added it was his decision not to tell anyone, including his family, about his whereabouts. He also flatly denied leaving home for Trinidad to meet a woman, whom he had met on Facebook.

“There is simply no truth to that. All I did was travel to Trinidad without telling anyone. I had planned this but it had nothing to do with any disagreement between me and my wife. I just needed to breeze out without telling anyone...and I did just that,” Hovell told Newsday.

He added that when he returns to Tobago, he will go to the Crown Point Police Station to explain to officers his disappearance and then return to his marital home to reunite with wife Christiana and their two children, ages six and nine. Yesterday, Christiana told Newsday she tried calling her husband’s phone repeatedly, but was not successful.

Newsday also contacted Assistant Commissioner of Police (Tobago) Garfield Moore who said that police investigating the Missing Person report filed, received information that Hovell travelled to Trinidad on a Caribbean Airlines (CAL) flight two Fridays ago. He said that police resources were deployed to locate Hovell.

When Newsday contacted ACP Moore later yesterday and told him that Hovell was in Trinidad and not in any danger, Moore said he was relieved to know the man was safe, but added he would be interviewed by Tobago police. ACP Moore wondered why Hovell did not inform a relative or even the police that he was not missing.

Hovell left Tobago on March 31. He was last seen by his wife leaving a pharmacy in Scarborough.

Hovell told Christiana then, that she would not see him that weekend because he had some things to do in a house he was building in Bethel. On Wednesday, Christiana was contacted by Hovell’s mother who said he was missing.

His co-workers from the Tobago Regional Health Authority attempted to locate him and posted his photo on social media seeking the public’s assistance to locate him. Even Tourism Minister and Tobago West MP Shamfa Cudjoe — a close friend of Hovell since primary school days — publicly appealed for help to locate him.