Found dead in bed – Gasparillo woman’s throat slit

SAD BROTHER: Mohan Jury speaks about his sister Chandra who was found dead with her throat slit at her Gasparillo home on December 1. - Photo by Ayanna Kinsale

A 74-year-old woman was found murdered in her San Fabien Road, Gasparillo home on December 1, just days before the sixth anniversary of her husband’s killing.

Sookhdaya “Chandra” Jury was discovered around 2.30 pm with her throat slit, lying in bed. Her daughter made the horrific find after repeated calls went unanswered, despite the pair having spoken on video less than an hour earlier.

Police said Jury’s cellphone was later recovered in the washroom of a Gasparillo bar.

Jury was last seen alive around 1.30 pm, going into her house shortly after her brother, Mohan, and several villagers moved a lime from beneath her home to a nearby bar (not where the phone was discovered).

By December 3, relatives and villagers once again gathered beneath Jury’s two-storey home – this time not to laugh and lime but to try and make sense of the tragedy that had just befallen them. Mohan, 80, said he was still in shock.

“That’s a real sad thing, you know,” he said. “She was supposed to go away on Friday.”

Mohan said he spent Tuesday night with his sister after dropping off items for her to take to her daughter who lives in Canada. Jury was the mother of four girls, three of whom live abroad.

The daughter who discovered her body, lives along Caratal Road. She declined to comment when contacted.

Mohan said his sister's murder occurred three days before the sixth anniversary of the murder of her husband Lesley Hosein, who died after being attacked by bandits in Sangre Grande.

Shocked neighbours described Jury as a quiet but warm and loving person who welcomed villagers who often kept her company during the day. They said she had no disputes and never complained of any threats. Mohan echoed this, saying she lived peacefully.

Villager Amir Sahadath who was liming hours earlier with Jury on December 1, said the murder had stunned the community.

“We consider each other family, and for somebody to do something like this, especially to her...words can’t describe how I feel right now,” Sahadath said. Saying he lives one house away from Jury's house, Sahadath said he now fears for his own safety and that of his family, as the killer is still out and about.

The only person who remained at Jury’s home, after the lime ended on December 1, was a woman who lives in an apartment on the ground floor of the house. The woman said she went inside when Jury returned upstairs to her own living quarters. The woman said she heard nothing out of the ordinary until the body was discovered.

With no signs of forced entry or ransacking, relatives and residents believe Jury was killed by someone she knew. Jury is not the first pensioner to be murder this year.

In October, pensioner, Sam Seegulam, 77, was found dead at his Longdenville home. Police initially ruled his death accidental until an autopsy led to it being re-classified as a homicide.

Fanglin Zuo, 64, was found murdered in his Bacolet, Tobago home in September. Kumari Baksh, 60, and her husband Nasheed, 67, were found dead at their Cumuto home in January.