The trial of 12 men accused of murdering central businesswoman Vindra Naipaul-Coolman resumed yesterday with the jury hearing evidence of how the State’s main witness assisted police in solving the case. Testifying in the Port-of-Spain Second Criminal Court, was homicide detective acting Insp Suzette Martin, who interviewed the witness Keon Gloster on several occasions during a two-month period in 2007 before the 12 men were charged.
Gloster, who was 17 when he gave the statements, is from the same community of upper La Puerta, Diego Martin, where most of the accused men lived. He is also related to several of the men. Martin explained that when she first met Gloster on May 9, 2007, he agreed to provide information on Naipaul-Coolman’s kidnapping and eventual murder.
“I will tell you what I know,” Gloster reportedly told police in front of his mother, Marcia, who was asked to sit in on the interview because he was a minor. Martin said when she saw Gloster the next day, he said he had additional information. However, before she could speak to him again, Gloster, who is epileptic, suffered a severe fit and had to be hospitalised. She said Gloster eventually gave her a statement when he was discharged from the Port-of-Spain General Hospital two days later.
Martin also said she was asked to record two further statements from Gloster on May 28 and then again one month later, after she received instructions from the main investigator Senior Supt Nadhir Khan. Naipaul-Coolman was abducted in front of her Chaguanas, home, on December 19, 2006. A $122,000 was paid but she was not released and her body has never been found.
Since the trial began before Justice Malcolm Holdip in late March, prosecutors have contended that the former Xtra Foods CEO was held captive at a house in the community in west Trinidad, before she was shot dead and dismembered. Martin is expected to be cross-examined by defence attorneys when the trial resumes this morning.
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Who’s in court
The 12 men before the jury and Justice Malcolm Holdip are Allan “Scanny” Martin, twin brothers Shervon and Devon Peters, siblings Keida and Jamille Garcia and their older brother Anthony Dwayne Gloster, brothers Marlon and Earl Trimmingham, Ronald Armstrong, Antonio Charles, Joel Fraser and Lyndon James. A 13th man, Raphael Williams, was charged with the crime but died in prison in 2011 of complications arising from sickle cell anaemia.
Legal team
Their legal team includes Ulric Skerritt, Joseph Pantor, Selwyn Mohammed, Lennox Sankersingh, Ian Brooks, Wayne Sturge, Mario Merritt, Richard Valere, Kwesi Bekoe, Colin Selvon, Vince Charles, Christian Chandler, Delicia Helwig and Alexia Romero. The prosecution team includes Senior Counsel Israel Khan and Gilbert Peterson who are being assisted by senior state prosecutors Joy Balkaran and Kelly Thompson.