Businessman beaten and chopped in home invasion

Senior Reporter

jensen.lavende@guardian.co.tt

Relatives of Earl Celestine say he is fighting for his life after five men broke into his home, beat and chopped him before stealing property.

Celestine, 52, is the son of Bartholomew Celestine, founder of Uncle Beddoe’s grocery in Santa Cruz.

Around 3 am yesterday, intruders broke into Celestine’s Lynch Avenue, Cantaro Village, Santa Cruz home. They made off with two vehicles, a Nissan Qashqai and an X-trail, along with cash, jewellery and other valuables, including cell phones. The Nissan X-trail was later recovered in Morvant.

At the grocery located along Saddle Road, Santa Cruz, it was business as usual yesterday.

At the family’s home, however, relatives said they were still shaken up and could not speak much about what happened. They said Celestine was in critical condition.

During the attack, the bandits attempted to steal a Nissan Frontier but could not drive the manual vehicles and had to abandon that plan.

Police said they responded within 20 minutes but the men had already fled. They said Celestine was injured in a scuffle with the criminals but was not critically injured.

There has been an upsurge in home invasions in the past year, with the culprits using drones, and binoculars, and posing as company representatives to scout for potential victims.

Last month, Christopher Christian, 27, was killed when gunmen invaded his Carlsen Field home.

Following that murder, Sheep and Goat Farmers’ Association president Shiraz Khan claimed that Carlsen Field was becoming a hunting ground for home invaders.

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