Friday, September 7 2012

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MURDERED: Donna George, seen in this family photo, was stabbed and chopped to death on Wednesday at the hands of a close male relative....

AN EIGHT-YEAR-OLD Moruga student, who came across the bloodstained body of Donna George, 48, on Wednesday morning at their Preau Village East, St Mary’s Village, Moruga home, spent most of yesterday being interviewed by detectives at the San Fernando Police Station.

The Standard Two student also received counselling from the officers. “So far we are very happy with how they have handled him. It is important since he and Donna were very close. They are treating him very nicely and I really hope after today (Thursday) he doesn’t have to go back to that house,” a relative told Newsday as he spoke about the police’s interview of the boy.

The relative explained that the family was contacted and asked to accompany the eight-year-old to the police station.

Yesterday, the family also received a visit from social workers from the Family Services Division in Princes Town. A female relative said that the social worker did not meet with the eight-year-old because he had already left to go to the San Fernando Police Station.

“The social worker didn’t meet him because he had already left for San Fernando. They came to find out how the family was coping and if the children including the eight-year-old, needed counselling. They told us we are free to come in whenever it is convenient to have counselling done,” the relative said.

A 59-year-old employee of the Ministry of Food Production was up to yesterday in police custody. He is the prime suspect in George’s death. It is expected that a file will be sent to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions today by detectives investigating George’s murder, for further instructions.

Police reported that at about 7 am on Wednesday, George was at her home when she got involved in a dispute with the suspect. The suspect, police said, then took up a knife and stabbed George several times. He then grabbed a cutlass and chopped George across her throat, almost severing the neck. George fell on a mattress where she subsequently died.

An autopsy performed by pathologist Dr Valery Alexandrov revealed that George died as a result of two deep chop wounds, with the blade of the cutlass, slicing through her neck and going all the way to the bones of the spine. “She would have been dead within a or two of receiving these two chop wounds,” Dr Alexandrov said.

Donna’s sister Debra George told Newsday that she was not coping well with her sister’s violent death. She recalled that the victim had been abused and tormented by the suspect, who within recent time had grown paranoid that Donna was being unfaithful to him.

“It is really hard for me. I can’t sleep because every time I close my eyes, I see my sister. I visualise her being stabbed. This is hard for the entire family. She never had children but was close to her nieces and nephews. That little boy (the eight-year-old) loved Donna deeply, just as if she was his mother,” Debra related.

Donna will be buried on Saturday at the Moruga Cemetery following a funeral service at her parents’ home in La Ruffin, Moruga.