Trinidad & Tobago Magistrate’s Sister Murdered ‘By Mistake’

Carla Quamina, the twin sister of Carl Quamina, Trinidad & Tobago’s Magistrate, was murdered Friday night in a case of mistaken identity. According to Stabroek News, Ms. Quamina’s body had been “sprayed… with bullets” in her home. She reportedly died instantly. Local authorities report that she had been upstairs in her home and when she exited her bathroom, the “gunman opened fire on her.”

Eyewitnesses reported that there had been a few men outside Ms. Quamina’s home lounging. When the gunman appeared, a few of the men ran inside the house and were pursued by the gunman. Though one of the men who ran inside the house ended up in the backyard, the other hid inside the house. Ms. Quamina, who was unaware of the commotion, walked about her home, the gunman shot her multiple times thinking that it had been one of the men who he followed into the home.

When the shooting was complete, authorities said, the gunman likely walked down the stairs, outside to the backyard, and disappeared. Assistant Superintendent of Police, Marion Robain, and a number of officers from the Eastern Division Task Force responded quickly and secured the crime scene. Police “processed the scene and recovered 11 9mm shells inside the house.” The body is scheduled for an autopsy this coming week.

Ms. Quamina, 55, was a mother of five who worked at Sangre Grande Regional Corporation, a municipal agency. Her daughter, Akemia, recalled the last time she saw her mother, “We had fun as we ran from store to store to purchase clothes for her Toco Old Boys’ fete carded for tonight [Saturday]. We returned home and relaxed until about 8.30pm when I decided to leave my mother’s home and bid her goodnight.”

Ms. Quamina’s sister, Franka, said that she had to hold on to a chair when she got the call that her sister had been killed. “I was shocked traumatised by the news and could not believe that my sister who I spoke with just two hours ago is dead.”

Local police plan to hold a town hall meeting Sunday night to address Ms. Quamina’s murder, and to reassure the community of its commitment to keep them safe.

Trinidad and Tobago is a dual-island country situated in the West Indies. It is approximately seven miles away from Venezuela. The island nation gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1962, and became a republic in 1976, according to Brittanica.