The surviving two sisters of the Brasso Seco family who were abducted on the night of October 26 were discharged from the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, Mt Hope, yesterday, four days after they were rescued from their abductors by police. The T&T Guardian visited the Hibiscus Ward yesterday and was told Felicia, 17, and Jenelle Gonzales, 19, had been discharged just before visiting hours began.
A close relative said the girls were feeling much better, considering the ordeal they went through. The relative added that the sisters, who have finally been told of the deaths of their loved ones, are now being kept at an undisclosed location under police guard for their safety, given that Azmon Alexander, the man labelled this country’s most wanted and the key suspect in the abduction and murders of the family and their neighbour, is still on the run.
Police were still hoping the public will assist them in capturing Alexander yesterday. On Monday his mother, Mary, sister Vanessa and former girlfriend Amelia Hosein appealed to him to surrender, saying they would rather he lived in jail than be killed by police. The teens were taken along with their mother, Irma Rampersad, 49, and Jenelle’s 14-month-old daughter, Shania Amoroso, from their Bleu Road, Brasso Seco, home last month.
Sometime later, a neighbour, Felix Martinez, 52, also went missing but residents thought he had gone hunting. On November 8 Martinez’s body was found wrapped in a sleeping bag with baby Shania. On November 11 Rampersad’s decomposed body was found near a tree. All three were found in the Brasso Seco forest. Rampersad and Martinez had been strangled and the autopsy on the toddler was inconclusive owing to the advanced stage of decomposition.
DNA tests delay funerals
The funeral for the three will be held after DNA tests confirm their identifies. The samples were sent to the UK last week and it is expected to be another two weeks before the results are known.
The teens were rescued on November 14, three days after their mother’s body was found. They were found in the Lalaja forest in a makeshift camp guarded by two men, who escaped after a shootout with police and soldiers.
A 17-year-old, who police said was involved in the shootout, surrendered to them the following day. He and five other people, including relatives of the family, are now assisting police with their investigations. Police said they have now extended their search from the Brasso Seco forest to the Arima borough for Alexander. Police say they are working closely with relatives of Alexander in the hope he surrenders.