Reports from Trinidad are stating that nine men from La Puerta Road, Diego Martin have been charged with the murder of Vindra Naipaul Coolman. Naipaul-Coolman was the latest high profile kidnapping, with a demand for TT$2 million, for Vindra. She was kidnapped outside of her home on December 19, 2006.
Recently, news of the arrest of nine people, ranging in ages from 20-29, have been making the headlines in Trinidad and Tobago, but were not reported here due to to the many false positives surrounding this case. Apparently, the police in Trinidad and Tobago are on to something this time.
After consultation with the DPP, Supt Nadir Khan of the Homicide Bureau, laid the charges on the nine people arrested in the operation. They will appear before a Port-of-Spain Magistrate today. Rennie Coolman, the husband of Vindra Naipaul-Coolman, declined comment when contacted last night by Newsday.
Forensics appear to be the driving force behind both the arrests and charges as a blood match of specimen seized outside Vindra’s home and another at a house in La Puerta Road last week.
Trinidad Express is also stating that evidence taken from an area dug up last Thursday was rushed to London for DNA testing and has conclusively proved that Naipaul-Coolman had been temporarily buried in a shallow grave. Police have also retrieved small bones from the shallow grave in Diego Martin. According to police, the body was moved from the temporary grave and moved to a permanent location at a later time.
Apart from the DNA results, the gun fired during the kidnapping of the businesswoman was sent for ballistic testing. Police said the spent shells retrieved at Naipaul-Coolman's, Lange Park residence matched the gun found on men on January 2, at John Peter's Road, Charlieville. It is becoming apparent that Vindra was shot, and succumbed to the gunshot would, which eventually took her life.
The Trinidad and Tobago Police Service said in a statement the arrests and charges "does not mean the investigations are over".
