Sifting through through several documents yesterday, Joanne James vowed eternal love for her former husband, Sean. An acting police corporal at the Besson Street Police Station, Sean shot dead his lover Dorna Noel and then turned the police-issued revolver on himself at Noel’s workplace in Curepe on Wednesday afternoon.

Sean and Noel, who shared a common-law relationship lived at Harper Lane, off Reid Lane in D’Abadie. James, who identified Sean’s body at the Forensic Science Centre, St James, said yesterday: “I love my husband. I will always love my husband and that will never change.” An eleven-year “perfect” marriage between James and Sean ended in divorce a few months ago. Two daughters, 17 and six, were children of that union. But James’ world came to a devastating halt when she discovered Sean was involved in an intimate relationship with Noel for almost a year. And that relationship, James said, resulted in the breaking up of her marriage. “We were a normal couple...We were happy, our lives were going great,” she said.

“We lived in an area where everyone were couples and then things just ended. It’s really sad.” The ex-wife and the lover, however, never came face-to-face. The first time James saw Noel was from a photograph taken yesterday of Noel’s identification card. “I need to see that photo...I need to see what the woman look like,” James prodded. She then shook her head and made no remark when the photo was shown. Despite shooting Noel once in the chest at close range, Sean was portrayed by his ex-wife as “cool and calm.” James described Sean as a dedicated husband and devoted father. Violence, James said, adamantly, was “not of Sean.” “In all my years of marriage, my husband was never like that...far from it,” she said.

“He was very loving and quiet. He never raised his hand at me. I never saw that side of him.” A lack of coping skills was what might have pushed Sean over the edge, his aunt Pamela O’Neil said. “Policemen have problems like any anyone else, too,” she said. “We don’t want Sean’s death be in vain and help should be given to police officers who have problems and cannot cope.”

Death threats
But Noel’s anguished relatives painted a different picture of James. They spoke of constant death threats and harassment, culminating in Noel desperately wanting out of the relationship. Jacqueline George, Noel’s stepmother, said that last Saturday, Sean placed a cutlass to Noel’s throat, threatening to end her life. “I had to go and get Dorna around midnight on Saturday...She did not want to remain home because she was terrified,” George said. “When we called the police, they said either Dorna or Sean had to leave the house.” She said by the time she arrived at Noel’s home, Sean had already left. According to George, Noel insisted that Sean packed his bags and leave “her place.”

“That was Dorna’s place and she said she was not leaving,” she said. “So Sean took the keys and said he was not giving her back until he got his things.” Shortly after that, Sean and Noel met briefly, George said, after which Sean begged for forgiveness. “He told Dorna he knew what he did was wrong and he wanted to make up. “But Dorna told him she was scared and that was the end of it.” But on Tuesday night, she said, Sean was spotted in Noel’s yard and again he promised to kill her. “She called the police but they did not come until the next morning,” George said. By that time, she said, Sean was already gone. During Noel’s relationship with Sean, the 42-year-old woman made no previous complaints about her lover’s behaviour. George said the first time she learnt her stepdaughter was experiencing domestic problems was last Saturday.

“Dorna was also very shocked by Sean’s behaviour,” she said. “But she kept repeating she was afraid of Sean and she wanted out because she cannot live that way.” Noel’s aunt, Edith, who openly wept, said Sean also attempted to strangle her niece on Saturday. So badly swollen was Noel’s throat that she was unable to eat the following day, Edith said. But Noel’s murder was looming, relatives believed. The day before she was killed, Edith said Sean begged Noel to take the day off from work. “But she told him the doctor was out of the country had she had to go to work...And apparently he follow her to work and that was it,” she said.

Police negligence
Had the police taken Noel’s threat seriously, her life might have been spared. “If the police was checking up on Sean, they might have noticed when he took the gun and realise something was wrong,” George said. She also charged that since Sean was a policeman, his colleagues might have been more reluctant to act. Advising young women to immediately speak out, George said Noel bottled up her problems until it was too late. “A lot of people feel they could handle the situation and they don’t see the seriousness of it or they don’t look for help until something drastic happens,” she said.