The suspect in the stabbing death of 19-year-old Alex Coombs surrendered to the Freeport Police yesterday morning.
Police said the 56-year-old man walked into the station alone and told the police he was aware they were looking for him, but he had to prepare himself mentally to surrender.
The teen was stabbed at home on Sunday night allegedly during an argument over an electronic device and after being denied food. He died at the hospital.
Yesterday, Coombs’ mother Sabita Partap claimed her son, who was mentally challenged, was abused since the age of 12 by some relatives.
“They always used to beat him up because they didn’t like my son. My son was going to Freeport Presbyterian School and when he was 12 years he was beaten on the head with a pool stick and he was bleeding. I went to the police. Every time he was beaten up I went by the police. They always used to slap him. They push him down in the sand. His eyes got sand,” Partap claimed.
Partap said Coombs was sent to St Dominic’s Children’s Home after a magistrate sent him there for running away from home. The mother said at St Dominic’s, Coombs learnt several trades including mechanics, plumbing and food preparation.
At the age of 18, he was released and returned to the Freeport home where Partap claimed the abuse continued up until Sunday night when he was denied food, his tablet hidden, he was beaten, choked and stabbed multiple times.
Police said there had been several reports of abuse against Coombs over the years. The suspect, meanwhile, remained in police custody last evening.