Senior Reporter
kevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt
Despite having several verbal and violent altercations with fellow villagers, the family of Curtis Demol says his murder was an excessive retribution for whatever he might have done.
Demol, who turned 50 yesterday, died from several stab wounds someone inflicted on him at his home along Bougainvillea Avenue, Thompson Gardens, San Fernando.
A police report stated that around 9.30 am, a relative was at home when she heard an altercation outside. On checking, she found Demol lying in the garage area, bleeding from a wound on his head. Police were called in.
Residents said that Demol worked construction jobs, ran marathons and was building a home until two years ago his personality changed. He sold his remaining building materials, stopped constructing the house and converted it into a garden, saying God told him not to live in a concrete house and to plant instead. They said he preached about God and would speak nicely to others, but would sometimes verbally attack people, even slapping and beating residents recently.
Residents said he recently stole from a neighbour’s garden and threatened the owner.
His younger brother, Dane, said he was at work when a neighbour called and told him his brother was chopped. Together with his brothers Dyron and Dion, they came to the house, only to be told by police officers that their brother was killed. While the death was unexpected, Dane said it was not a shock, given the state of murders in T&T.
“It is too much. Too rampant. It comes too normal, so to say that I am feeling a certain way, I cannot really explain the feeling. I just know I am feeling a sense of loss because this is my big brother. This is a man who took care of me. This is a man who sent me to school,” Dane said.
He said Demol was spreading the word of God. However, he said some people may have found his approach annoying, which could cause tension.
“My brother is competitive, so anything he does, he takes it seriously. If he saw God’s things as a mission, he would go at it, 100 per cent.”
Investigators are interviewing several people in the community. No one has been arrested.