Businessman stabbed to death

After his business place was robbed several times in the past, a 71-year-old man decided to overnight in the building to scare off burglars. Around 1.15 am yesterday Anthony Raymond Stewart was murdered while trying to ward off a suspected bandit who broke into his La Romaine pub and attacked him.

Police believe the proprietor, a father of five, put up a fight before he was killed. Investigators said a broken glass bottle or pieces of wood from a broken chair may have been used as the murder weapon. There were at least four deep lacerations to the elderly man’s head and other cuts to his head and face. Police are searching for a man whom they believe may be able to assist them in their investigations. According to reports, around 6.15 am, his 68-year-old wife, Serena, who assisted him in running the business, found Stewart lying in a pool of blood in a room at the back of their business — Nana’s Place and Pub, a pub/parlour, located at Pond Street, La Romaine.

Investigators said Stewart’s body was on its back, next to a mattress, on the floor. His face was covered in blood. There were several pieces of broken glass and pieces of wood from a broken chair, scattered in the room. District Medical Officer Dr Sankar Moonan, viewed the body and ordered its removal to the Forensic Sciences Centre where an autopsy is scheduled for tomorrow. Visiting the scene was a party of officers from the San Fernando CID and San Fernando Homicide Bureau including Supt Victor, ASPs Dyo Mohammed and Paul, Ag ASP Dhilpaul, and Sgt Persad. When Sunday Newsday arrived on the scene several neighbours who described Stewart as a “nice and quiet” person, were gathered in front of the business place.

A tenant, who lived in an apartment directly under the room where the elderly man’s body was found, told Sunday Newsday that she came home around 10.30 pm on Friday night and the pub was still open. The young woman, who requested anonymity, said around 1.15 am, “I heard a noise like someone falling down. But I did not study it.” Then I hear a car pull up and the noise stop,” she said. It was only later in the morning when she heard the man’s wife, fondly known as “Nana” in the community, screaming that she realised something had happened to Stewart.

On the brink of tears, Serena Stewart told Sunday Newsday that her husband lived with her at Cipaul Boulevard, a short distance away. However she said on many occasions their businessplace was robbed, the most recent being three weeks ago. And since that break-in, she said her husband had decided to sleep in the business place at nights, to guard it. She said she left her husband around 8.30 pm on Friday night and went home. “When I came this morning I see the paper (newspapers) still in front. So I start to call ‘Stewartie, Stewartie time to get up.’ When I walked down the corridor and pushed the door I see him in blood on the ground,” she sobbed. “We love everybody here in the community,” Serena said, as she wiped the tears away. However, she recalled last Thursday her husband “put out” one of the tenants, after they found out he had an assault case against him. She said the tenant was very angry over the incident. Police believe that the killer may have gained entry through an internal staircase from an apartment downstairs the business place.