Argument may have saved woman and daughter

Had Lafleur John and her daughter been at their Campden Park home on Friday night, things may have turned out differently. Ricardo Mattis might have been alive today, or police might have had multiple homicides to investigate.{{more}}

Lafleur, Mattis’ girlfriend for about two years, told SEARCHLIGHT on Saturday morning that she last saw Mattis on Friday, when she and her 13-year-old daughter left the Plan Village, Campden Park home.

“Me and he get an argument yesterday, so I went to work and I tell him I ain’t coming back… I sent her to Layou by some family and I left him here….”

The visibly shaken woman said that she reported to work at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital on Saturday morning, sometime before 7 a.m., and shortly after, received a phone call telling her that Mattis, also known as “Ricky” or “South,” had been killed.

The 36-year-old man died from gunshot and stab wounds inflicted on his upper body, including his head, neck and chest, between Friday night and Saturday morning.

Workmen who turned up at the house to do repairs on the roof discovered Mattis, lying in only his boxer shorts on his bed.

A pillow with bullet holes, believed to be used to suppress the sounds of gunshots, was discovered at the scene, and was among the evidence taken by police who are investigating the murder.

Lafleur told SEARCHLIGHT that for the short space of time she had known Mattis, he was a good person, despite his shortcomings.

The former immigration officer, who lived in Trinidad and Tobago for some time, had been on the wrong side of the law. It is alleged that he had been involved in robberies and burglaries in the past.

“I not saying he never hit me or we didn’t have we little argument in between… but he was a nice person to me.

“…I tell him I not coming back yesterday, but that was my mistake, because somebody like they know me and my daughter ain’t home…. I really feel this. I didn’t expect this,” Fleur said between tears. (JJ)