Senior Reporter
jensen.lavende@guardian.co.tt
Andrew Mathura, who was wanted in connection with the death of his daughter, ws laughing when police held him at an apartment hideout in El Dorado, Tunapuna, on Wednesday night.
A resident, who spoke with Guardian Media on condition of anonymity, said Mathura did not resist when police went to the Goya Street, El Dorado home to arrest him. However, the woman said the whole ordeal was scary for her.
Asked if Mathura was violent towards the police when he realised he had been cornered, the neighbour said no.
“He was calm, calm, calm, you won’t believe! He was pleasant, he was laughing, talking, very cheerful.”
While on the run from police for over 24 hours, Mathura reportedly managed to visit his hideaway spot twice and purchase food and toiletries at a grocery store undeterred and undetected by T&T Police Service members hunting him since he managed to elude them on Tuesday, when they first discovered Hannah’s remains in a shallow grave at the family’s South Valsayn property.
The apartment he was held in on Wednesday night was initially used by his brother, who moved out some months ago after he had some of his toes amputated because of complications with diabetes, neighbours said.
Andrew was wanted for questioning in the death of his daughter. His wife was also held for questioning on Wednesday.
An autopsy conducted on Tuesday revealed that Hannah, then 18, was shot in the head. Police believe she was killed and buried in the shallow grave seven years ago.
When Guardian Media visited Goya Street yesterday, residents said they were shocked to hear that Andrew was wanted by the police and for some of the things he was accused of on social media.
How he stayed hidden
Guardian Media also gained access inside the apartment where Mathura stayed.
The apartment was barely seven feet high with a kitchen and bathroom in one area and another open area with a bed, a single chair and a table.
We saw that Mathura had purchased Milo, water and juice at a grocery store. On the ground of the apartment was a new tube of toothpaste and other toiletries. A new mosquito net was hanging over the makeshift bed, which was a mattress on top of six chairs.
While on the run from police for over 24 hours, he managed to visit his hideaway spot twice and purchase food and toiletries at a grocery store undeterred.
The woman said she knew the family for over a decade and Mathura was always a quiet man who was very strict with his children as it pertained to their schoolwork.
The neighbour and residents claimed the children were “cooped up” in the Valysan house and during the pandemic two of Mathura’s eight children stayed with their uncle at Goya Street.
A neighbour said that’s why she thought nothing of Mathura coming to the apartment.
“When he come, he asked me to unlock the gate because he wanted to spend a few hours. He tell me his wife put him out but I couldn’t find the key so he leave and come back. When he come back he asked a Spanish to break open the apartment,” she explained.
The neighbour, who shared the entrance to the apartment with Mathura’s brother, said when the police came on Wednesday, they thought she was with him, and she claimed one officer shoved her. The officer later apologised, she said, after learning that the two apartments were separate dwellings.
But residents said they could have alerted the police to the whereabouts of the 66-year-old man if officers had issued a photograph of him, saying that he was a person of interest.
“He used to be in and out, in and out and in the evening, I see a group of police come, about after seven or so. But the police rough me up terribly, well, they made a mistake eh they thought I was renting the entire place and I let him stay here. But they were supposed to get information first. They get on like beast here.”
She said Andrew was lying on the makeshift bed when police entered the room.