Mere hours after Francis and Terry-Ann Sampson discussed plans to visit their son in the United States, their dreams were shattered when police found the Moruga father of three inside his burning car. Police received a call around 11 am to say a car was seen burning at Medina Trace, Penal Rock Road, Basse Terre. Responding to the call, Cpl Mac Donald Simmons and PC Ken Ragbir found Sampson’s Nissan AD wagon parked in the middle of the agricultural road.
Princes Town firefighters put out the fire but Sampson, who was strapped in with his seatbelt, was burnt beyond recognition. His body was taken to the Forensic Science Centre, St James, where a DNA test will be done to confirm his identity before an autopsy. Francis, a lorry loader with the Ministry of Works, worked along the Penal Rock Road where he was removing cut grass yesterday morning.
After his shift ended around 8 am, Francis, a part-time taxi driver, was last seen driving through the area with a 20-year-old relative, also from the area. Police said the relative told them he was a passenger in the car and while they were driving along the Penal Rock Road, they were blocked by black Nissan Frontier. He said three men got out and robbed them and he escaped in the bush at Medina Trace but one of the men chased him down and beat him with a shovel. As the men drove off, he said, he saw the car on fire.
The relative told police that nevertheless he went home to shower and relax before reporting the incident to Moruga police. He was taken into custody as police made searches as they tried to verify whether the burnt body was indeed Sampson’s.