Derek Achong

Po­lice in­ves­ti­gate mur­der of 61year old woman

A 61-year-old woman was mur­dered by a knife-wield­ing in­trud­er at her Bel­mont home yes­ter­day morn­ing. Around 11.45 am, res­i­dents of Jern­ing­ham Av­enue, Bel­mont, called the po­lice af­ter they saw a man jump­ing over the wall of their neigh­bour Meena Men­go, who lived at the cor­ner of Jern­ing­ham Av­enue and Archer Street.

Po­lice re­spond­ed short­ly af­ter and saw the in­trud­er, who was car­ry­ing a blood-soaked tow­el around his neck. They con­front­ed the man, who threw the tow­el at them and ran through a near­by track. When po­lice searched Men­go's prop­er­ty, they found her ly­ing in a room at the back of the house with her throat slit. She was pro­nounced dead on the scene by a dis­trict?med­ical of­fi­cer.

Homi­cide de­tec­tives said Men­go had in­juries to her hands and arms which showed she had strug­gled with her at­tack­er. She lived alone. Po­lice were search­ing for the sus­pect up to late yes­ter­day and said an ar­rest was im­mi­nent as the po­lice were able to give a clear de­scrip­tion of the sus­pect, who is said al­so to live in Bel­mont.

In­ves­ti­ga­tors be­lieve that the mo­tive for Men­go's mur­der was rob­bery, but were un­able to de­ter­mine if any­thing had been stolen from her house. They have not found the weapon used in the at­tack. The mur­der toll for the year now stands at 330. Supt Ken­ny McIn­tyre, ASP Ajith Per­sad and In­sp Er­ic Parks, all of the Port-of-Spain CID, are prob­ing Men­go's mur­der.