Senior Reporter
jensen.lavende@guardian.co.tt
Another woman has been added to the country’s growing murder toll, after an autopsy on Wednesday confirmed that the body found along the North Coast Road in Maracas on April 1 was that of Onika Locario.
According to police reports, around 10.44 pm, officers responded to information that a person was lying motionless near the Agro Shop along the roadway.
When officers arrived, they found the woman lying face down on the road.
She was later identified as 30-year-old Locario, of Simmons Terrace, Diego Martin.
Homicide officers said Locario was beaten to death, according to the post-mortem examination.
Her murder was confirmed hours before businesswoman Tricia Maharaj was gunned down outside her home.
Police reported that around 3.35 pm on Wednesday, occupants of a gold-coloured Nissan Tiida pulled up outside Maharaj’s home after a woman called inquiring about a car for sale.
When Maharaj went outside, a gunman exited the vehicle and shot her several times before re-entering the car and fleeing the scene.
WOMEN KILLED FOR THE YEAR
1. Nancy Almarales, 50, shot dead on January 4, in Valencia
2. Unnamed pregnant woman (believed to be a Venezuelan national), shot dead on January 21, at Garden Road, Arouca
3. Kelly Ann Lemessy, 38, shot dead on January 22, at Rio Claro
4. Merril Sabessar, 65, beaten and strangled on January 25, during a home invasion in Barrackpore
5. Amelia Hernandez, shot dead on February 13, at Jade Court, Couva
6. Rashme Deoajit, 28, throat slit and stabbed on March 17, at Granville, Cedros
7. Onika Locario, 30, beaten to death and body found on April 1, along North Coast Road, Maracas
8. Tricia Maharaj, 36, shot dead on April 8, outside her Riverside Road, St Joseph home.
