An­na-Lisa Paul

Se­nior Re­porter

an­na-lisa.paul@guardian.co.tt

Fam­i­ly mem­bers of mur­dered Va­len­cia res­i­dent Kern Charles are rul­ing out rob­bery as the mo­tive be­hind his killing, and are in­stead al­leg­ing that peo­ple in his in­ner cir­cle saw an op­por­tu­ni­ty to get rid of him.

Charles, 35, of Quar­ry Road, Va­len­cia, was found ly­ing along Pear Dri­ve, Va­len­cia, around 12.30 am on Au­gust 17, by a woman who was walk­ing home.

He was found bleed­ing from his nose and mouth, and had a stab wound in the neck.

Claim­ing his broth­er had been a hard-work­ing per­son, Ken­rick Charles fought back tears as he spoke with re­porters at the Foren­sic Sci­ence Cen­tre, St James yes­ter­day.

“Every­body know him as a qui­et per­son, not vi­o­lent as some peo­ple say,” he claimed.

Un­sure of what had led to his broth­er’s killing, Ken­rick begged, “I would like to get a fair and hon­est hear­ing just for my broth­er be­cause he didn’t de­serve to go so.”

He al­leged per­sons close to Kern seized the op­por­tu­ni­ty to mur­der him, and cov­er their ac­tions by claim­ing it was a rob­bery gone wrong.

Ken­rick said he last spoke to his broth­er the night he was killed when Kern said he was go­ing to lime in San­gre Grande with a close fe­male rel­a­tive and her two chil­dren.

In­di­cat­ing he had warned him to be care­ful, Ken­rick said Kern had $25,000 in cash at the time of his death, which had been pay­ment for work done.

He firm­ly be­lieved the mon­ey was not enough to tempt peo­ple to kill Kern, and that it had been tak­en to cov­er up the death and lead in­ves­ti­ga­tors to think it was a rob­bery gone wrong.