Nelson Street residents made the gruesome discovery yesterday of a man’s severed head outside the apartment buildings near Independence Square in Port-of-Spain. A report said a resident who was on her way to work discovered the head lying on the sidewalk around 6 am and called the police. Members of the Port-of-Spain Task Force, Crime Scene Unit and Homicide Bureau found the rest of the body in bushes near a fenced area outside the apartment complex. Police said the victim’s feet were tied with rope and his hands were tied behind his back with his own shoelaces.
The body has been identified as that of Michael Derek Piper of Chaconia Avenue, Coconut Drive, Morvant. Residents claim they heard one gunshot during the night. Police said they found no weapons at the crime scene but believe the weapon used in the beheading was possibly a sharp cutlass. In addition, Homicide officers are also investigating the murder of a 29-year-old security guard at his Williams Street home, off Old St Joseph Road in Laventille. A report said Ricardo Sharpe and his common-law wife, Natasha Rodriquez, a Cepep worker, were at home around 9 pm when a gunman came through the front door and opened fire on the couple. Sharpe died on the spot while Rodriquez was shot in the abdomen. She was taken to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital where she remains warded in critical condition, police said. ASP Ajith Persad and police from the Besson Street Station, Port-of-Spain CID and Inter Agency Task Force visited the crime scene.
Meanwhile, police are investigating the death of a 30-year-old man at Old Road in Santa Cruz on Sunday night. Robert Prince, a Cepep worker from Job Street, Santa Cruz, was standing in front of a recreation club when he was shot. A report said around 8.30 pm, residents heard loud explosions and called the police. Insp Martin, Cpls Davidson, Richards and Jones of the Region Two Homicide Bureau and Santa Cruz Police Station responded. Police said Prince was taken to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex where he died while being treated. Investigators said they had identified no motive for Prince’s death and he was not known to the police. The latest killing according to the Homicide Bureau has taken the murder toll to 264.