One dead in two Maracas shootings

Investigations are continuing into two separate shooting incidents at Maracas Bay early yesterday.  In one of the incidents, a 26-year-old woman, identified as Nefita Awai, of Cemetery Street, Diego Martin, was shot dead while her common-law husband, Adrian Francois, remained hospitalised after he too was shot in the attack. In the other case, Brent Quamina, 25, of Richplain Road, Diego Martin, was found shot near a popular bar.  Police said around 12.30 am yesterday, officers of the Maracas Bay Police Station responded to a report of a shooting near the bar and found Quamina bleeding from gunshot wounds to the head. He was rushed to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital where he was treated and warded. Investigators said while responding to the shooting, the same party of officers were alerted to a second shooting near a restaurant and bar on North Coast Road.

 

When the officers arrived they found a B14 car parked near a precipice. A police wrecker was summoned to remove the car. It was while the police were removing it they saw Awai’s body slumped over the passenger seat with gunshot wounds about the upper body. Francois was found lying several feet away from the car. He was rushed to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital where he was treated and warded in a serious condition. Interviewed at the Forensic Science Centre, St James, yesterday, a close relative of Awai, who asked not to be identified, said: “She loved the wrong person and it was simply a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

 

She said, Awai, a mother of a six-year-old boy, worked as a sales clerk at the Falls, West Mall, to make ends meet.  She was the “sole breadwinner and caretaker of her son,” the family member said. Recalling that Awai was always smiling and “well put together,” the relative added: “She was never in anything. She was a pleasant person who worked for her son.” Calling for the removal of Police Commissioner Dwayne Gibbs in light of the escalating homicide rate, Awai’s relatives urged persons to “choose better friends.” An autopsy yesterday confirmed Awai died as a result of multiple gunshot wounds. Her killing pushed the murder toll to 174 for the year.