TRINIDAD & TOBAGO — A mentally ill man brutally killed a pregnant Mayaro woman with a clay brick on Monday night, according to reports.
Stacy-Ann Campbell, 29, of Radix Village, was attacked by the man, who dealt her several blows to the head as she was chatting with her neighbor — the man’s relative — around 8 pm, the Trinidad and Tobago Guardian reported.
Campbell, who was eight months pregnant and had four other children, including a twin, died on the spot, according to the Guardian report.
Ironically, police said, Campbell was liming with neighbour Yvonne Modeste and chatting about the high level of domestic violence and the brutal killing of women at the time of the attack, the Guardian said.
According to the Police, Campbell was getting up to tell Modeste she was leaving, when the latter’s 36-year-old relative suddenly ran out of his bedroom and grabbed Campbell.
Campbell struggled with the man, who then grabbed a brick. As she tried to escape, she slipped and attempted to brace her fall on the house’s wall. It was then the man rushed towards her and delivered several telling blows.
As Campbell fell to the ground bleeding heavily from wounds to her head and face, Modeste raised an alarm for help and ran inside the house where a call was made to the Mayaro police, the Guardian reported.
Meanwhile, neighbours and customers from a nearby bar rushed to the house and were able to subdue the mentally challenged man. However, when Modeste returned outside she found Campbell unconscious and unresponsive.
At her home on Tuesday, Modeste, 66, was reported as telling the Guardian her relative was recently released from jail and was giving her “thunder.” She admitted that in recent times he has damaged her home and personal items and only two weeks ago she had to call the police for assistance as he became “very aggressive and uncontrollable” and attacked her.
When the police arrived following her report then, the relative eluded their capture. An EHS ambulance which was on standby to take him to the St Ann’s Hospital for observation and treatment also left empty-handed.
However, Modeste, a mother of 11, admitted the relative returned some time later and attacked her.
“I was beaten … he jumped about my body. When I fell and I screamed for help is when he leave me,” Modeste was quoted as saying.
Campbell’s killing brought to 12 the number of women murdered so far this year. The overall murder toll on Tuesday was 123, as compared to 103 in 2017.