Children witness mom’s brutal murder

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KEVON FELMINE

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“Aunty Toya! Aunty Toya! Come and help mommy. Daddy killing mommy.”

This was the cry for help from a seven-year-old boy as he ran to his neighbour Latoya Durant’s home on Tuesday night, after he and his two-year-old brother witnessed their father hacking their mother, Adeina Alleyne, to death.

Police said after the boys saw Dwight Waldrop brutally chop their mother, the elder boy, with blood on his hands, ran to neighbours for help. Durant and other neighbours eventually found his brother screaming on a bed, inside Waldrop’s Building 5 apartment in Embacadere, San Fernando. Alleyne’s daughter was not at home.

According to neighbours, Waldrop, 33, a watchman, had accused Alleyne, 34, a supervisor at Puff N’ Stuff Bakery in Vistabella, of being unfaithful. However, Alleyne had ended her relationship with him some time ago.

They said before Tuesday’s murder, Waldrop had threatened to kill Alleyne and was sharpening a knife and cutting himself as a test.

Investigators said Alleyne lived in Apartment 2, Building 3, while Waldrop lived in Apartment 3-4, Building 5, in the housing development.

A neighbour told investigators that around 7.15 pm, the child ran into her apartment and told her his father had chopped his mother. Neighbours then broke down the front door to Waldrop’s home and found Alleyne soaked in blood and lying on the floor of a bedroom.

They picked up the younger child off the bed and went to the kitchen, where they found Waldrop dead with a clothesline wrapped around his neck.

San Fernando police, led by ASP Coraspe, Insp Phillip, Sgt Williams and Sgt Dinoo, responded alongside detectives from the Homicide Bureau of Investigations, Region Three. Crime Scene Investigators found a bloodied Chinese chopper, which they believe was the murder weapon. While investigators wait for autopsy results to determine the cause of death, neighbours said Alleyne’s throat was slit.

Durant said Alleyne was not supposed to go back to Waldrop’s apartment, as she had made several reports against him. She said she also spoke to Waldrop about moving on from the relationship and tried to dissuade him from harming Alleyne and himself.

Waldrop’s cousin, Hazel Harry, said Waldrop could not deal with the separation. She said she believes Alleyne went across to his apartment for something and they argued.

“Apparently, he spoke to persons telling them he would commit this act but nobody really believed it. It is not easy to deal with because it is three children left behind without parents. Sometimes, if we talk to the right people, we would get the right advice. That did not take place and this is the result of it,” Harry told Guardian Media.

In a Facebook post, Puff N’ Stuff Bakery said Alleyne was a shining light at the workplace. The company described her as a fabulous mother, daughter and granddaughter.

“To have such a gracious soul taken from us so tragically has created a loss of words for us. We pray for her family, children, and friends during this difficult difficult time. We have lost a strong, beautiful, loving and caring woman so senselessly.

“We ask you to keep her and her family in your prayers. We pray for her eternal rest and salvation. Deina, you will be forever missed,” the company stated in the post.

Commenting on the latest incident yesterday, International Women’s Resource Network (IWRN) president Sandrine Isaac-Rattan said Alleyne was the fifth woman murdered in domestic violence circumstances for 2021. She said in the last three months, the IWRN had observed heightened bouts of anger, a sense of uneasiness and insecurity in some men, even during casual conversations.

Giving specific examples, Isaac-Rattan said some men are becoming extremely angry and threatened by their partners’ social media posts. She said some men also have an issue when their partners enhance their overall appearance.

“There’s also that unfortunate desire to check their partners’ phones. Non-evidenced-based accusations are also becoming more prevalent,” Isaac-Rattan said.

“While we await the endorsement of the National Gender-Based Violence strategy, it is incumbent on male role models to occupy their rightful place. Mobilise both young and adult males in their communities to implement basic programmes to deal with anger management.”

Also commenting on the attack, San Fernando Mayor Junia Regrello said it was shocking and sad. He noted that International Women’s Day was commemorated only on Monday and there were so many programmes geared at preventing violence against women.

“These men committing these heinous crimes, they need counselling, something is wrong with them. They need to be analysed from a psychological standpoint to see what is wrong with them,” Regrello said.