T&T state witness murdered in New York

A man who testified for the state in a murder trial that led to the conviction of two murderers in Trinidad and Trinidad has been shot dead in New York.

Sean Quamina was the principal witness in the murder trial of Garvin ’Beam’ Sookram and Keron ’Bellies’ Lopez last February.

A report in the Trinidad Express said Quamina was shot in the head inside his apartment, but his wife and child were not harmed

In his testimony Quamina, who was a confessed thief, had told the court he witnessed the murders of his robbery accomplices Kerwin ’Richie Rich’ Hinds and Kerwin ’Ox’ Cyrus at a track off Sawmill Avenue, Barataria, in July 2004.

Quamina’s evidence helped convict Lopez, and Sookram who were sentenced to hang for the murders.

The state had provided the 26-year-old Quamina protecting under the Justice Protection Programme.

Quamina had lived in the US for the past three years. Police in New York say they know the identity of his killer.