NEIGHBOUR : I THINK ROBBERY IS THE MOTIVEBy Newsday Reporters Thursday, August 6 2009
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Parked up: The police caution tape has been taken down from the home in Bacolet, Tobago of Peter and Murium Greene, although the couple's car remained...
Thirty retired Scotland Yard police officers recruited by the Government have been assigned to the investigation of the chopping attack on British couple Peter and Murium Greene.
The former Yardies, who are now part of the Special Anti-Crime Unit, have been working with the local police in Tobago where the Greenes were beaten and chopped at their vacation home in Bacolet last Saturday.
British Deputy Commissioner Geoff Patton confirmed the retired officers resident here were on the case, and said additional manpower could be provided if the Trinidad and Tobago Government asked for this support.
“Unless the Minister of National Security asks for assistance from our Scotland Yardies then we will arrange to bring in a team, however, as for now, we are very confident in the TT Police Service. So far we have enough resources handling the investigations,” said Patton.
Tobago investigators yesterday maintained they had several leads which could result in the capture of the two men who attacked the British couple.
They have received information from several persons and they were verifying the authenticity of the accounts. However, there are no suspects as yet.
The police caution tape which draped the entrance of the couple’s vacation home last Saturday has been removed and their white Nissan Wingroad wagon remained parked in the garage.
Paula Borrett, another British citizen who lives near to the Greenes with her husband John, yesterday told Newsday the alarm on the victims’ house went off about a week ago and remained on for close to three days before someone switched it off.
“I personally think they had intended to rob the house and thought that nobody was there because it has been empty for quite some time. I could be totally wrong but it just seems strange that the alarm went off and no one came to fix it until three days after.
“The men probably thought that the alarm had been switched off and not put back on and were surprised to actually find them (the Greenes) there,” she said.
The Greenes had reportedly returned to Tobago about two days before assailants brutalised them with cutlasses. So severe was the attack that Murium, 59, and Peter, 65, received chop wounds about their head and face. They were airlifted to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, Mt Hope, where Murium was due to undergo a second surgery to repair her fractured jaw yesterday. The surgery was postponed to 10 am today. Murium had been fasting and had been assessed in preparation for the surgery. A plate will be put in to repair her her fractured jaw. Peter remained in a medically induced coma as doctors wait for an improvement in his condition. He remains in critical condition at the Intensive Care Unit while Murium is reported to be in the High Dependency Unit.
The couple’s adopted son is expected to arrive in Trinidad today.
Already a relative, believed to be the sister of Peter, arrived in the country on Monday night and spent all day moving back and forth at the respective bedsides of the victims.
Newsday was told she spent a lot of her time at Murium’s bedside, talking with her and offering words and prayers of comfort and encouragement.
She, however, refused to speak with Newsday and sent a message with a security personnel saying, “I do not wish to comment.”
Although initial reports said the Greenes were from Redding, Newsday was reliably informed that the couple lived at 2 Mantle Street, Wellington, Somerset and formerly owned the Blue Mantle Hotel, until five years ago. It is also believed that the couple have been residing at their vacation home in Bacolet, on and off for the past ten years.
In a BBC report, Peter’s brother, Edgar, 74, who lives near Truro in Cornwall, said he could not understand why anyone would want to kill the couple.
“Why would someone try to kill someone? If they are trying to rob someone then rob them. This is attempted murder,” Edgar said.
Another British report claimed that local police were baffled “as it appears no valuables have been taken from the house” but also revealed that a neighbour was told by the British couple that they were victims of a break-in about a year ago.
Anyone with information which can help in solving the case is asked to call investigators at 639- 2515, 639-0200, 639-3739 or dial 555.
