By ALEXANDER BRUZUAL Friday, October 26 2012

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SISTER GRIEVES: Ingrid Maingot, centre, grieves for her slain sister Nina who was found with her throat slit at her home on the corner of Archer Stree...

The midday silence which usually rests upon the tight knit community of Archer Street, Belmont, was violently broken yesterday with the murder of 61-year-old Nina Maingot.

In its place, the roadway echoed with screams, as relatives and friends of the slain woman desperately tried to come to terms with her killing.

A relative, who refused to be identified, recalled that shortly after 11 pm yesterday, neighbours of Maingot had seen a man of African descent scaling the wall of the house, on the corner of Archer Street and Jerningham Avenue.

They contacted the Belmont police, as well as a relative who lived nearby.

“I went down to the house, and as I reached the gate, I see this man walking out of the kitchen, with a knapsack on his back. He was holding a towel in his hand that was soaked with blood. I watched him and tell him I hope you didn’t kill anybody, and he just began to curse and walk out the gate, then he went down to Jerningham Avenue, and walked away,” the relative recalled. She said she then entered the home and made the grizzly discovery. Maingot was lying on the floor of her home in a pool of blood with her throat violently slit.

A police officer who was reportedly walking along Jerningham Avenue, noticed something was amiss about the suspect, and stopped the individual and questioned him. However, he reportedly allowed the man to leave shortly after, and the suspect was last seen entering a narrow drain which leads to the East Dry River.

A party of officers from the Belmont Police Station first arrived on the scene, and the area was cordoned off. Soon, another party of Port-of-Spain Division officers, including Supt Kenny McIntyre and officers of the Homicide Bureau of Investigations visited the scene.

The body was viewed by District Medical Officer Bellamy, and was then ordered to be removed and taken to the Forensic Science Centre, St James, where an autopsy is expected to be done today.

At the scene of the murder yesterday, relatives and friends repeatedly cried out in disbelief, saying that Maingot was “the best of them” and she didn’t deserve her fate.

On numerous times, Maingot’s younger sister Diane, was heard screaming, “Why Lord!? Why? Take me instead! Not her! Not Nina! Of all of us, not Nina!” Other siblings of the deceased, who were identified as Garth and Ingrid, were also heard making similar statements.

Some of Maingot’s loved ones had to be repeatedly warned by police officers that they could not go into, or near the home as, at the time, it was being processed as a crime scene, and their presence could impact investigations.

However, some relatives, so overwhelmed with grief ignored the officer’s warnings and repeatedly tried to enter “their home” to see their sister.

Speaking to Newsday yesterday, Maingot’s sister, Ingrid, said she will always remember the deceased woman as a loving and caring person.

“She was the light of the community, she was the love of the neighbourhood. You can ask anybody, they only have positive things to say about her. She was always in the gallery telling people hi, and if you had anything to ask of her, she would not hesitate for a second to give it to you. Not at all. But more than that, she was the thread of warmth and love that ran through this family.

“She had a way about her that could just put a smile on your face, on anyone’s face, and a manner about her that was just infectious with joy. She could make anybody laugh. Anybody. She was a very, very loving person, and was loved in return. I keep thinking that this is a bad dream, and that I will wake up from it soon, but so far I’m still dreaming. Because I still can’t believe this is really happening, and I don’t want to. She was the best of us, and she deserved much, much more than what happened to her,” Ingrid revealed.

Police are continuing enquiries, and are of the belief that the suspect would be caught soon.

Maingot’s death pushed the murder toll to 334, according to Newsday’s statistics. She was also the 36th woman for the year to be killed.

The first female killing took place on February 3, with the murder of 17-year-old Amanda Pamponette who was chopped to death in Valencia.