Carpenter gunned down in Belmont

Relatives of the country’s latest murder victim, carpenter Dwayne Reuben, believe he was set up to be killed yesterday morning. Reuben, 30, was shot dead a short distance away from his Upper St Francois Valley Road, Belmont home. According to relatives Reuben, who was also a part-time PH driver, was called to the area around 4 am by a female friend, who wanted to be dropped at Piarco airport.  

Speaking with members of the media outside the Forensic Science Centre, St James, Reuben’s girlfriend Vanessa Diaz, who went to identify the body, said they had been together for the past three years and he was not a troublemaker. She said the last time she saw him was on Thursday, when she gave him a pedicure. 

“I would miss him a lot, because he was my friend and my everything,” Diaz sobbed, adding that Reuben would not usually be up at those early hours and was the type to be home if he was not working. Reuben’s father, Roy Reuben, said he did all he could to ensure that his son, one of 16 children, was aptly provided for so that he would not have to seek help from anyone or turn to illicit means to earn a living. Reuben said his son was not in any gang activity.

“Just last night he was playing a game and I was by him and next thing this morning I get a call saying he dead,” Reuben said. Around 5 am residents of Maryland, Upper St Francois Valley Road, Belmont, heard gunshots and then found  Reuben’s bullet-riddled body. No motive for the killing has been determined. Reuben’s killing pushed the murder toll to 45, while the figure for the same period last year stood at 38.