Yvonne Baboolal
Central Bureau
“Granny get stab in her neck!”
The terrified screams of 18-year old Chantelle McMillan rocked the quiet neighbourhood of Hummingbird Drive, Edinburgh 500, Chaguanas, on Thursday night shortly after retired nurse and community activist Shirley McMillan, 76, was stabbed to death by a mentally ill close relative.
The 44-year old relative is an outpatient of the Chaguanas Mental Health Facility. Neighbours yesterday claimed she had stopped taking her medication one week ago.
Described as a “Mother Teresa” in the neighbourhood, McMillan, who taught religious instruction at the Edinburgh Government Primary school, was rushed to the Chaguanas District Health Facility where she died shortly after.
Neighbours said they called an Emergency Health Services ambulance but it took too long to arrive and they took McMillan, bleeding profusely, to the hospital in a private car.
Residents said after she stabbed McMillan, the relative calmly walked up the Edinburgh Boulevard, along the whole length of the football field. She then returned and sat down on the sidewalk five houses from where the murder took place, completely composed.
A lynch mob of angry residents quickly cornered her with pieces of wood and other weapons. It was only through the intervention of PC Small, of the North Eastern Division Task Force, a neighbour who was off duty, that the relative was spared a severe beating. Small skillfully managed to calm the angry crowd of about 30 people, explaining to them that the relative “was not well.”
The woman, who didn’t seem to know what she had done, reportedly asked neighbours, “What I do?” She was taken into custody by the Chaguanas police.
The T&T Guardian visited the scene of the murder yesterday, where relatives were cleaning the living room where McMillan had been killed.
Chantelle, a second year University of Southern Caribbean social work student, was being comforted by neighbours and too distraught to talk to the media.
Argument led to attack
According to neighbours, the killing stemmed from an argument the relative had with McMillan over Chantelle.
“The relative had ordered some food from an eating place next door and said she was coming back for it. She went home and was heard having an argument with Chantelle about her coming home so late.
“Shirley intervened and told her to behave herself, the girl just came from school (at USC in St Joseph, Maracas),” a neighbour said.
According to reports, the relative calmly walked into her bedroom, returned with a knife and ambushed McMillan, stabbing her in the neck. The blood-stained knife was found near the water tank in the yard by the police.
“Chantelle run outside screaming. She was so hysterical, she couldn’t talk.
“When we asked her what happen, she said, ‘------- stab granny in her neck’” the neighbour said.
PC Small said he had arranged for Chantelle to receive counseling from the Victims Support Unit at the Chaguanas station.
Neighbours said the relative, who did construction and security work, was once involved in community sporting activities but left the neighbourhood to live in a common-law relationship with a man.
“She has a ten-year old son from that relationship who was taken from them and placed in a children’s home in Couva.
“When she came back to Edinburgh one year ago, she was not the same,” the neighbour said, adding McMillan tried not to irritate the relative because of her mental illness.
“When she took her medication, she used to be normal. But when she stopped, she behaved differently.”
Other Edinburgh residents labelled the relative as “mad,” saying they feared she may kill someone again.