Senior Reporter
sascha.wilson@guardian.co.tt
Police have arrested a suspect in connection with the murders of 40-year-old Hollice Thomas and her eight-year-old son.
The man who knew Thomas intimately was arrested along Mucurapo Street in San Fernando around 2 pm yesterday, with wounds to his left hand.
The wounds were consistent with a knife injury. Police said the suspect sought treatment at a medical institution on Tuesday after the heinous murders. He has previous charges for attempted murder and assault.
Initial reports stated that around 9 am Thomas’s common-law husband Marcus John, a taxi driver, returned home after work and found them in a bedroom in the apartment at Battoo Street bleeding profusely from a stab wound each to their necks.
He found his stepson, Noel, lying on his back on a bed with a wound to the neck. He was already dead.
Thomas was lying face down on the ground next to the bed with a wound to her neck. She was gasping for breath. Thomas, a Guyanese national, died at the San Fernando General Hospital. She was a security guard while her son attended the Ste Madeleine Government School.
The family had moved into the apartment less than six months ago.
When Guardian Media visited the apartment yesterday, the door appeared locked.
In 2019, Thomas reported that a male relative had attacked her and chased her then-four-year-old son Noel with a chopper.
He was charged with assaulting Thomas, occasioning a wound, and was jailed for a year.
Thomas told the magistrates she had another incident in 2018 and was fearful for her life, but she claimed then the police never took her report seriously.
Since the murders of the mother and son, social media has been overflowing with condemnation and sorrow over the incident, particularly from those who knew them both locally and in Guyana.
Ashley Constantine wrote that her heart was broken. She posted, “My black gold, you used to give me so much strength I still asking myself how after all you been through this demon come and take u away. Oh my sweet Noel aunty sorry and in so much pain.”
Another person, Doysha Gittens posted, “Still cant believe what I’m seeing. Always peaceful and loving person. You and your son didn’t deserve this. SIP my friend.”
Onawa Harvey sent condolences to Thomas’s daughter, brothers and the rest of her family. She wrote, “I am heart sick my friend...you nor your son deserve to lose your lives this way. Why did someone do this to you. I am so sorry. I don’t want to say RIP...why should I say that concerning you. Why? How could it be true? The last time we spoke was the end of October. I wish you moved back to Guyana. Now no amount of wishing can make you come back, you’re gone...snuffed out, your light now put out permanently...but why...omggggggg. We always used to talk old story and laugh our heads off... I am sad. The last story you shared of yourself you looked so pretty, I told you so.”
A relative Kevin Williams also expressed his grief over the killing.
“Holli, I’m so sorry I failed u and my nephew /godson. Though we hadn’t spoken for some time strangely you’ll been on my mind for some months now. Agh, Agh it so bad, this hurt specially for Noel, loved him so much, will miss you all. But I promise through the almity the person responsible will pay for my nephew. Missing you, love Worme.”
Meanwhile, Claxton Bay MP David Lee called for justice. He also took to Facebook where he stated, “This is unacceptable. This is the disastrous low we have plummeted to as a nation! This is not the society our children deserve to grow up in?”
Questioning how someone could harm a mother and eight-year-old, he said, “I prayer for justice, The people of our nation deserve better than this.”
The autopsies are expected to be performed today at the Forensic Science Centre in Port-of-Spain.
Up to last evening, the suspect was in custody at the Homicide Bureau Region 3 office in San Fernando.