Two male suspects held are expected to be charged last night for the grisly double murders of British-born Richard Wheeler and his wife, Grace.
Two suspects, aged 23 and 29, from St Vincent and Tobago respectively are scheduled to appear in the Scarborough Magistrates Court today.
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions gave the instructions to charge the men yesterday after perusing the file built by a special team of homicide investigators sent to the island to solve the crime.
The female suspect, who was arrested with the men last Wednesday has been released pending further investigations.
Head of the Homicide Bureau, ACP Vincel Edwards, speaking at a hastily arranged press conference, at the Scarborough Police Station yesterday said the suspects were employed in the construction industry, but could not say if they had worked at the Wheelers’ Riseland Gardens, Carnbee residence. He also confirmed that robbery was the motive for the killings.
The Wheelers were found dead at their home on Monday. Richard, 73, a senior partner of the law firm Lex Caribbean, was chopped to death while the killers slit the throat of Grace, 67, a real estate agent with Island Investment.
Questioned on the pace of the murder inquiry compared to others in the past, Edwards said while the police got a lot of information in other cases, it was evidence which leads to successful outcomes.
“When you conduct investigations of this nature you have to get evidence. We get a lot of information relative to murders, but unless you have the evidence you cannot bring a charge of murder against an individual.”
“In this particular case, there’s nothing so peculiar relative to this from other murders, because we treat all the same, we expend resources on all murders and once we get the evidence, we will treat with it, we approached the DPP and take direction from the DPP, “ Edwards said.
He also said if additional information was unearthed others may be charged.
“We cannot rule out that there is or isn’t any person other than the persons we have charged that were involved. We will look at all leads and once we have the evidence to substantiate the fact that they were involved, again we will approach the DPP and whatever directive he gives we follow,” he said.
He also commended the public for coming forward with information which lead to the arrest of the suspects.
“Very few investigations of this nature can be solved without the intervention or partnering with the general public, so we want to thank all members of the public on behalf of our Assistant Commissioner of Police and bringing us at this juncture.”
The suspects were arrested in the Mt Pleasant area last Wednesday, some twenty four hours after the crime was committed. Sources say the Wheeler’s credit cards were stolen and the group was caught on CCTV cameras at various outlets attempting to use the cards.