Trinidad husband and wife shot dead in home

(Trinidad Express) A husband and wife were shot and killed before daybreak today after gunmen stormed their home along Penal Rock Road.

Dead are Rafeak Vialva and his wife Babita Vialva. Police said the couple were inside the house with a relative when the intruders entered and opened fire.

Babita died at the scene. Rafeak was rushed to hospital but succumbed to his injuries while being transported.

Responding police officers later intercepted a vehicle believed to have been used by the killers.

Residents described the Vialvas as a hardworking couple. Rafeak operated a timber jack, a machine used to haul logs from forested areas, and the pair were involved in the purchase and transport of raw wood to sawmills for cutting into planks.

Babita, originally from Biche, was a housewife who occasionally assisted her husband in the field. Neighbours described her as quiet and unassuming.

“They didn’t trouble anyone,” one neighbour told the Express.