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News from the Caribbean as of
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Trinidadian teenagers charged for murder of 6-year-old boy
Monday, April 3, 2006
by Stephen Cummings
Caribbean Net News Trinidad Correspondent
Email: stephen@caribbeannetnews.com
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad: After three days of questioning, police in Trinidad have formally charged two teenagers for rape and murder of 6-year-old US national, Sean Luke, whose badly decomposed body was found last Monday morning in a canefield near his home in Couva, Trinidad.
Sean Luke, who moved to Trinidad from the US just over four months ago, was found dead and buried in a shallow grave with a canestalk inserted into his body after reportedly having been raped.
Charges against the two teenagers were laid early on Saturday morning by police from the San Fernando Homicide Bureau. The incident produced shock waves throughout the national community as it is the first time such a horrendous crime had been committed by two teenagers aged 13 and 16. The 16-year-old was a neighbor of Luke's, while the 13-year-old is a friend from Laventille, just west of the capital Port of Spain.
Sean was said to be playing with a group of friends near his home in Orange Valley Couva when he disappeared. Eye witnesses reportedly told police they saw when Luke was being dragged into a nearby canefield by the suspects.
Investigators said one of the two suspects, the 16-year-old, confessed to the brutal murder telling police it was planned.
Both teenagers will appear before a Couva magistrate on Monday to face charges relating to kidnapping, rape and murder.
The two suspects will remain at the Trinidad Youth Training Centre for juveniles until the case is finally decided. According to law on the local books a guilty verdict will, however, not attract the death penalty since the suspects were under the age of 18 when the crimes were committed.
Meanwhile, local police have come in for heavy criticism from the victim's family and Police Commissioner Trevor Paul, who said the police failed to act quickly when it was first reported that Sean was missing.
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