Man commits suicide after killing woman

Allegedly betrayed by his common-law wife of nearly 20 years, 37-year-old farmer, Lenroy Charles “tripped off”, and he did what shocked all who knew him – killed her, burnt his house, and committed suicide.



The chorus sung by all, including his slain wife Gertrude Thomas’ relatives, was that Lenroy was a quiet and pleasant man. So when he chopped her several times and set his simple two-bedroom house ablaze with her and all their possessions in it, it went contrary to what was known of him.{{more}}

“To me they had a good relationship, he was a quiet person,” said Salome James, Gertrude’s niece as she spoke on Friday, March 23, after the incident, which sent shockwaves through the San Souci community.

Firemen removed Gertrude’s badly burnt body from the house as they fought the blaze.

However Veon Charles, Lenroy’s younger brother told SEARCHLIGHT that he was also shocked and disappointed with what his brother did but knew what drove him to the uncharacteristic act.

Lenroy had visited Veon at his Peruvian Vale home the Thursday before, upset, sad and depressed – and told his brother that he had seen his beloved Gertrude having sex with another man – he finally had confirmation of a rumour that he had ignored for sometime.

A woman who knew his wife had given him the “heads up” and he peeped through a window at the house and saw what was taking place first hand.

Veon said that people had told his brother in the past that Gertrude, 37, was being unfaithful but in the absence of proof he used to dismiss the rumours. On that Sunday though, the rumour became a heart shattering reality.

“I told him not to do anything stupid, to just leave she and move on,” said Veon, who told SEARCHLIGHT that he was still trying to come to terms with what his brother did.

Veon said that he tried to convince his brother that night – and thought he had succeeded, that life would be alright and he would find another woman “the next week”, but what transpired that dreadful Friday morning indicated otherwise.

While the sequence of events that morning are still unclear, Veon is totally convinced that any argument that took place had everything to do with what his brother saw five days before.

It was Veon who found his brother at around 4:30 p.m., about six hours after he had thrown it all to the wind. He was kneeing down in some bushes close to the river, trembling.

“I asked him if he drink any gramoxone and he said he drink a mouth full but he spit out some,” said Veon.

Lenroy died early the next day.

Lenroy and Gertrude had moved to San Souci just about two years ago and previously lived in Diamonds. Gertrude was the last of four girl children, six children in all, for her mother.

“I can’t believe what just happened, they never use to fight, I am shocked,” said Ethel Andrews, Gertrude’s sister.

She told SEARCHLIGHT that Gertrude had already purchased an airplane ticket to travel to Trinidad last Monday, March 26, for her niece’s wedding.

Gertrude’s brother Charles Thomas said that he wasn’t totally surprised about what happened because he had a dream about a week before. In the dream, his skin was itching and someone was running him down.

“I called my father and asked him if those girls (his sisters) were alright, and now this happens,” Charles said.

The couple had one child, a 15-year-old girl who is in fifth form and is due to start writing CXC subjects in a month’s time.

“I will have to take her now and take care of her,” said Salome with a look in her eyes that said that she understood the uphill battle that faced the young girl as she deals with the death of both parents – deaths so tragic, so tragic indeed.