A Tobago woman is being treated for chop wounds after an altercation on Wednesday morning in Mentor Road, Signal Hill.
The perpetrator, identified as her husband, allegedly tried to set their home on fire before taking his own life.
Neighbours said they were alerted to smoke pouring from a home, while one of its occupants, Nicoya Baird, ran into her uncle’s home nearby, partially clothed, with chop wounds to her neck and body.
Her uncle alerted a family friend, Leroy Fraser, who told TTT News he rushed her to Scarborough General Hospital.
“He call me, I go down, get my car and come back up, proceed to she, cover she up, head to the hospital. I really wasn’t studying anything more than to get she up there because she was holding by she neck here so I done know she get a chop here already.”
Mr Fraser said the incident occurred while one of the woman’s sons, a 19-year-old disabled boy, was at home.
“But on the way going there, she only saying about she son, she son, she son inside of the house. But before that I did done call 211 to get the ambulance for fire service to come up the road. Leave from there to come and help them but when I reach back up, I done see they take him out already.”
The husband, Steve Paul, was found dead inside the home.
Police are treating the matter as an attempted murder investigation, while the circumstances surrounding the fire and Paul’s death are still being investigated.
One eyewitness told TTT News that before the incident, Mr Paul left home to drop his stepson at school and was later seen speeding back home.
The man’s sister, Paula Paul, said the news shocked her.
“I don’t know. All I know, how I really feel is I know my brother, he is very quiet. He don’t really talk. So that is the whole thing about it.”
She claimed her brother had given no indication that there were problems in his marriage or that he was exhibiting violent tendencies.
“Never, he don’t really talk. That what I tell you. He is a quiet person. So even though if he have problems, he wouldn’t tell us. That is one thing. And he and the wife, I find they does go down real good. Wherever she is is where he is. So this was a shocking thing to me this morning.”
The incident has rocked the quiet community. Neighbours said they had no reason to believe the couple were experiencing domestic issues, noting that there were no obvious signs of trouble in the relationship.
Ms Baird is being treated at hospital, while Paul’s family is coming to terms with what happened.
“I loved my brother. That’s my brother. And I go miss him. I will miss him. I will miss him bad.”