MAS WOMAN DEAD
By Ryan Hamilton-Davis Thursday, February 11 2016
POLICE were last night trying to identify the body of a young woman of Asian descent, clad in a bikini and beads mas costume, who was found under a large tree in the Queen’s Park Savannah yesterday morning, hours after Carnival celebrations ended. The woman was wearing a yellow costume when her body was discovered.
Up to press time, it was not clear whether she was murdered or died of natural causes.
On the basis of a wrist band the woman was wearing, police believe she played in the Legacy mas band, but in an immediate response following queries by Newsday, Legacy band leader Mike “Big Mike†Antoine said the woman could not have been playing with his band as he personally made checks on his system, and all masqueraders were accounted for.
In a release by the TT Police Service, officers said they have ascertained the woman is of Asian descent and was wearing a wrist band which they said was from the Legacy band. Police added that the woman is about 5 feet, 3 inches tall, with a petite built, weighing about 120 lbs. She has a light complexion with brown shoulder length hair, black eyebrows and appears to be between 20 to25 years old.
Police also said in the release that the woman’s body was clad in a yellow and teal coloured bikini- type costume and the Legacy wrist band had the name of a section called ‘Rhythm’. Antoine said he has no section in his band named ‘Rhythm’ and none of his sections had yellow bikini costumes.
“We have a green section, a pink section and a blue section,†Antoine said. “We did not use yellow in any of our sections this year because we used it last year.†Police also revealed the woman was wearing a gold-coloured ring with a small blue gem on the left middle finger, a silver chain hand band on the left wrist with translucent gems attached and a clear coloured glasslike band on the right wrist. “I conducted a personal investigation and scanned our files myself as we have the names, numbers and sizes of all members who played with our band. And all persons who played with us are well and accounted for,†Antoine told Newsday.
“It is an unfortunate situation regardless of which band she may have played in. It’s a sad situation for the whole country because we do not send for people to come and play mas so they could get killed.
But this had nothing to do with Legacy mas. I do not want my band to be blamed for something of which it is innocent,†Antoine said.
He added that his band crossed the stage at 10.30 am on Tuesday after the Ronnie & Caro mas band and finished playing at about 7 pm.
Antoine said if family members identify the woman and confirm she was playing with the band Legacy, he would be able to progress from that point with more information.
At about 9.30 am yesterday, Geoff Adams, a 64-year-old man of Tamana was passing along the Queen’s Park Savannah and upon nearing Queen’s Royal College, he came across a man who was shouting and gesticulating wildly.
“He said there was something under the tree,†Adams recalled. “I thought it was a manicou or iguana the man saw, but when I checked, I saw it was a woman wearing a yellow bikini,†Adams said. The woman was found lying in an awkward position, slumped over exposed roots of the massive tree with one hand behind her back. She bore minor lacerations on one of her elbows and on her face and her hair was tousled.
Adams immediately alerted the St Clair Police and officers arrived and cordoned off the area. Crime Scene Investigators processed the scene and the body was removed to the Forensic Science Centre in St James. The Police Service release indicated the body was found at the Queen’s Park Savannah by cleaners employed with the Port-of-Spain City Corporation at 9.30 am.
Checks by Newsday with a number of city hotels especially those in the vicinity of the Queen’s Park Savannah, revealed no reports of any missing guest. An autopsy will be done after formal identification is made and police are calling on anyone who knows the woman or knows of any female missing to contact the nearest police station to help in identifying her or contact the Homicide Bureau of Investigations (Region One) at 624-5230 or 625-8234.
Investigations are continuing.
