KEVON FELMINE
Senior Reporter
kevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt
A Canadian national’s plan to return home yesterday never materialised, as relatives found him beaten to death on Friday night. Homicide detectives believe robbery was the motive behind 75-year-old Hilton Smith’s murder at his brother Francis Antoine’s home in Silver Stream, Aripero.
Smith, who lived in Montreal, came to Trinidad for a visit last November. A report stated that relatives last saw Smith around 10 am Friday, recalling that they noticed a gold chain and pendant around his neck. When Antoine came to check on Smith around 9.51 pm, he found his brother lying face down on a bed with his hands, mouth, and feet bound. Antoine contacted South Western Division police, and when PC Perrera and PC Weston responded to the house along Black Heat Avenue, they confirmed his death.
Crime Scene Investigators noted that Smith only wore a pair of boxers, and his killer used Scotch tape to bind his hands, feet, and mouth. His body bore marks of violence, leading investigators to suspect that his killer beat him. His gold chain and pendant were missing, and the upstairs of the two-storey house seemed ransacked. The police could not determine a point of entry for the suspects.
Snr Supt Remy, ASP Corrie, Insp Ramsaran, and Sgt Manolal visited the house, and officers cordoned off the crime scene. District Medical Office Dr Prem Naidoo examined the body and ordered its removal to the Forensic Science Centre, St James, for an autopsy this week. Police have not yet detained any suspects.