By FRANCIS JOSEPH
A man chopped his wife, thinking she was dead. He then set the house on fire and was burnt to death.
The woman, a nurse, is recovering at the Scarborough General Hospital after she was attacked with a cutlass at her Signal Hill home on Wednesday morning. Their residence was set ablaze.
The incident occurred around 7.30 am at Mentor Drive, Signal Hill, where worker Nicoya Bernard-Paul reportedly sustained multiple chop wounds to her neck and body.
Initial reports indicate that Bernard-Paul was attacked by her husband, Steve Paul, during a domestic dispute. The circumstances surrounding the attack have not yet been fully established by police.
The situation escalated when the house was reportedly set on fire while people were still inside. Neighbours raised an alarm and reportedly discovered that another occupant, who is wheelchair-bound, was trapped inside the burning house. Neighbours intervened and managed to rescue him before assisting in getting the injured occupants to hospital.
Police and emergency personnel subsequently arrived on the scene.
Steve Paul, who was reportedly still inside the house after it was set ablaze, is also believed to have consumed a poisonous substance. He died at the scene.
Bernard-Paul and the rescued occupant were taken to hospital for medical treatment. Bernard-Paul remains under observation.
Police investigators and crime scene personnel are processing the scene as they work to establish the sequence of events leading to the attack, fire and death. Paul’s body was removed to the mortuary pending an autopsy.
Neighbour Marshall Bernard said he was returning from the shop when he saw his niece, Bernard-Paul, wrapped in a towel and covered in blood. He said she begged him to call the ambulance. She said her husband chopped her by the neck.
Bernard said he took her to his home for safety as he feared Paul would come back and attack her again. She asked him to call the ambulance for her to go to the hospital. She said her son was still in the burning house.
Bernard said the Fire Service responded quickly to the scene of the fire. He said the firemen moved quickly. “If it wasn’t for the Fire Service, that boy would have died.”
Investigations are continuing.
