radhica.sookraj@guardian.co.tt
Jada Pierre, who survived a hammer attack at the hands of an ex-boyfriend, never believed she would be brutally attacked even though she received multiple threats. This was revealed by her mother, Gina, who admitted to being troubled by her daughter’s tumultuous relationship.
Gina said her daughter had been involved with a former schoolmate for eight years. Both had attended the Siparia East Secondary School.
Pierre had recently broken off the relationship. Before the hammer attack, a 23-year-man made several death threats but Pierre never took them seriously.
“He promised to throw acid in her face. He always tells her that he will kill her but she wasn’t taking it seriously. She used to say mammy, he wouldn’t do them things. And then the day before yesterday, he put up that a post saying he feeling to kill somebody and she still wasn’t taking it seriously,” Gina said.
She recalled that around 3.30 pm on Friday, they got a call that her daughter had been attacked and left to die at the Field Road in Santa Flora.
“He beat her several times with the hammer and now she has a fractured skull,” Gina said.
Asked why her daughter had gone with the suspect even though they were no longer in a relationship, Gina said the man asked Pierre to go with him to the Fyzabad Police Station to give a statement as an alibi.
While driving through the Field Road he attempted to reconcile and the argument turned heated.
The man hit Pierre several times on the head with the hammer, then dragged her by her hair out of the vehicle and left her on the roadside to die.
Workers from Heritage Petroleum who were cleaning the area found her in a semi-conscious state. She was taken to the Siparia Health Facility and then transferred to the San Fernando General Hospital.
Pierre’s stepfather Allan Pierre said he never knew the suspect to have violent tendencies. He said the suspect was well known to the family.
“This man used to come here and spend the day. He was a quiet person and never showed any kind of violence. If you go where he was living, they will tell you the same thing. He wasn’t no rowdy person, no limer. He worked in and out,” Allan said.
Asked whether Pierre ever spoke about any turbulence in their romance, Allan said: “She never used to discuss her business. She was a private person. At times when he comes, she would say ‘why he come here?’ And that was how we knew something was wrong and they were having problems.”
He also said that Pierre had a lot of friends and was popular.
“But she only ever had one personal relationship. They would always break up and then make up,” he added.
Sometimes the arguments would be about liming. Allan said while Pierre wanted to go out, the suspect wanted to stay home.
He said earlier this year, their neighbour Tenneil Cupid had also been killed by an ex-boyfriend whom they knew well.
Allan has some words of advice to young men in troubled relationships: “Fellas, if the young ladies don’t want to have nothing to do with you, the easiest and best way to do is walk away. Don’t let crime solve your problem,.”
He also cautioned mothers to raise their sons better.
“There should have more avenues to help but all of this has to start from home. Groom your sons and let them know that it makes no sense to take another life because you think you in love,” Allan said.
Police said they have a suspect in custody and are continuing investigations into the assault.