Woman, 65, found dead, bound and gagged

San Fernando fire officers yesterday responded to what they thought was a simple house fire. Instead, they stumbled upon murdered pensioner Anika Rita Williams. The 65-year-old woman was found bound and gagged. Police believe Williams, who celebrated her birthday mere weeks ago, was strangled to death and her home set on fire by intruders in an attempt to hide the crime.

Williams, who lived alone in an apartment at the corner of Skinner and Turney Street, Mon Repos, was last seen alive by her neighbour Indra Ramoutar, 60, around 10.50 pm on Saturday. Ramoutar said Williams went for bread at the nearby NP Quik Shoppe and was returning home when she came to her apartment to chat.

“She tell me she fix up she pension and she could not wait to get pension in January. She tell me ‘Indra when I get my pension everything would be good.’ She was a nice person. I did not know her to be in any trouble,” Ramoutar said. The woman said she watched Williams walk to her apartment two houses away not knowing that would be the last she would see her alive.

“She tell me she was sleepy and she was going home. She was sleeping away on herself in my gallery. She normally walks down the road. I was shocked to know what happened to her, to know I just saw her and then my neighbour tell me ... I was very shocked,” she said.

Police reports state that around 2.45 am yesterday residents of Skinner Street, Mon Repos saw smoke billowing from an apartment building on the corner of Turney and Skinner Street and called the fire service. Fire officers broke open the front door to douse the flames and stumbled upon Williams’s body in the living room lying face down. She was clad in a polka dot top and “tights.” Her hands were tied behind her back and a cloth was wrapped around her neck and mouth.

Her body was burnt in the fire as well as most of her belongings. Yesterday when the T&T Guardian visited WIlliams’s home handymen were busy replacing the front door of the apartment. Another neighbour, who requested anonymity, said Williams would keep to herself and did not have any enemies. The neighbour said there were no untoward incidents in the area recently except for the discovery of two bodies in barrels a couple of years ago opposite Williams’s apartment.

The neighbour added that last week a battery was stolen from a van parked near Williams’s home. The neighbour said yesterday morning a man was passing near the elderly woman’s home when he saw smoke coming out a window. He said the passerby called out to Williams and pelted stones on her roof to wake her up. The neighbour said a male relative was also alerted who contacted the police and fire service. The cause of the fire is yet to be determined and the San Fernando Homicide Bureau is continuing investigations.