Ag­o­nis­ing wails of a moth­er echoed through the com­mu­ni­ty of Gan­garam Trace, Broth­er's Road, New Grant af­ter the bod­ies of her daugh­ter Crys­tal Ja­groop and her com­mon-law hus­band Michael De­onar­ine were found on Tues­day night.

“Oh God, Crys­tal. Don’t leave me,” cried 45-year-old Rose­marie Ja­groop as rel­a­tives tried to con­sole her.

It is be­lieved that the cou­ple was mur­dered on Sun­day night, since it was the last time they were seen alive.

Vil­lagers al­so re­called hear­ing gun­shots some­time that night.

But, it was the foul stench that led to the dis­cov­ery of their bod­ies. Rel­a­tives said De­onar­ine was shot at least four times while Ja­groop was shot twice. De­onar­ine’s step-sis­ter Shali­ni Ram­sa­roop said the cou­ple was drink­ing on Sun­day night.

“Like they get kill Sun­day night but we on­ly found it yes­ter­day be­cause a man was pass­ing and some­thing was smelling re­al bad and when he do watch he see flies and he call one of the un­cles and tell him.”

Michael Deonarine and his common-law wife Crystal Jagroop.

De­onar­ine’s un­cle went to the house but he did not go in­side. In­stead, he called the po­lice and when the of­fi­cers ar­rived they broke down the door. De­onar­ine's naked body was found on the bed while Ja­groop’s se­mi-nude’s body was found on the floor. For­tu­nate­ly, Ja­groop’s six-year-old daugh­ter was not at home. Their mur­ders, how­ev­er, have left the com­mu­ni­ty shak­en and rel­a­tives baf­fled.

Ja­groop was a house­wife while De­onar­ine was a scrap iron work­er and a labour­er.

Ja­groop’s moth­er Rose­marie, said she was at work in Port-of-Spain when she got the news.

“It not nice be­ing a moth­er fac­ing this. I feel like my whole life go­ing. I want jus­tice be­cause my daugh­ter and me use to go down so good. She broth­er and sis­ter can­not cope with it.”

The el­dest of her five chil­dren, Ja­groop had been in­volved with De­onar­ine for about 13 months.

The moth­er said the cou­ple had a rocky re­la­tion­ship, but her daugh­ter nev­er spoke about their lives be­ing in dan­ger.

She said Ja­groop’s daugh­ter had been stay­ing by her for the last two weeks. She said on Sun­day Ja­groop had asked for her daugh­ter to come back home but Rose­marie did not send her.

Rosemarie Jagroop is consoled as she weeps for her daughter Crystal Jagroop, whose decomposing body was found with her common-Law husband Micheal Deonarine at their home in Ganagaram Trace, New Grant, on Tuesday night.

RISHI RAGOONATH

"She was a nice lov­ing per­son, al­ways mak­ing joke. When she come she make joke, we cook, we eat, we lime, the neigh­bour­hood, every­body love she so much.”

De­onar­ine’s rel­a­tives were al­so try­ing to make sense of the mur­ders. “To we and to every­body he was a nice a nice per­son,” said Ram­sa­roop.

Homi­cide de­tec­tives are still try­ing to as­cer­tain a mo­tive for the killings.