A 25-year-old woman was stabbed to death during a confrontation at Edinburgh 500 South, Chaguanas, with another woman and her former boyfriend over $4,500 she was owed.It is the second time in almost eight years that the victim’s family is in mourning, having lost another relative to violence.Onassis Ruiz was fatally shot in Laventille on November 20, 2018, at the age of 25.On Wednesday evening, his sister, Shayanna Ruiz, was fatally stabbed during a confrontation in Edinburgh 500 over a $4,500 debt.
‘A pain that doesn’t go away’: Kelvin Ruiz, father of Shayanna Ruiz, who was killed yesterday.
She was also 25.Around 5.30 p.m., Ruiz and another person went to a house at Plumbago Circular, Edinburgh 500 South, where she intended to collect $4,500 owed to her by her former boyfriend.Police said an argument broke out between Ruiz and the man before his current girlfriend became involved.During the confrontation, the woman grabbed an 11-inch knife and stabbed Ruiz several times before leaving the house with the man.Ruiz was taken to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Mt Hope, where she was treated for stab wounds to her chest, face and left hand.She died of her injuries at 6.25 p.m.Preliminary findings listed the cause of death as cardiopulmonary arrest secondary to multiple penetrating wounds.Ag Cpl Sarran and WPC Smart were the first responders.Crime scene investigators Cpl Maharaj, W/Ag Cpl Rudder-Fisher and WPC Vieruel-Shah processed the scene and recovered the knife.WPC Mohammed and WPC Valdez of the Homicide Bureau also visited the scene. Investigators identified several nearby locations with CCTV footage that may assist the investigation.WPC Knights is continuing enquiries.Father: No parentcan prepare for thisSpeaking with reporters at his home along Quarry Street, Diego Martin, yesterday, Kelvin Ruiz said he was struggling to come to terms with his daughter’s death.“This is not the first child I lost. About eight years ago, November 20 coming, I lost my big son at 25. He was gunned down in Picton (Street, Laventille),” Ruiz said.“I have three children. I lost two now...to violence. Now I just have the one son (a 22-year-old man). It’s like a repeat for me. I went through this already. Ain’t no parent can prepare for something like this the first time, far less a second time,” he said.He said the coincidence of both children dying at the same age, and both to acts of violence, had made the loss even harder to accept.“I went through this with my son, and now I’m going through this with my daughter. It’s a big coincidence for me that my son died at 25, and now my daughter come and dead at 25.”Ruiz remembered his daughter, whom he called “Shanna”, as someone who was always trying to make others happy.“Shanna is the type of person who would make everybody happy. She was always jolly, always laughing and smiling. Even if you were angry, she would make you smile. You couldn’t remain mad around her. She would brighten up a room just by walking in,” he said.He said she worked at Little Caesars on Ariapita Avenue, Woodbrook, and was devoted to those around her.“If she was your friend, she would go out of her way just to make you happy. But she was making everybody happy, and I had to ask my sister just now: who was making her happy?” he said.Ruiz said he left home around 5 a.m. on Wednesday to go fishing, as he usually did, hiking over the hill near his home to the sea to fish, then returning later that day.“I wasn’t expecting to come back to this,” he said. “Where I go to fish has no service. It’s only when you’re at the top of the mountain you’ll get some signal. So when I came back on top on my way home, I saw missed calls from five different numbers. I had no money on my phone, so I said I would borrow somebody’s phone when I reached home. Never did the thought cross my mind that something this serious had happened,” he said.It was only after returning home that relatives told him his daughter was stabbed and had died.He said he was finding it difficult to cope with the loss.“This is one pain that doesn’t go away. You live with this pain. Sometimes you’re walking down the road and you see something that reminds you of your child, and it all comes flooding back.“I lived this with my son (Onassis). So I know this is what to expect...I don’t know what else to say. I am grieving. I may not be bawling or crying, but I am grieving. I can’t even eat,” Ruiz added.Ruiz said he had been told two suspects were in police custody, but had not received much information about the investigation.Shyanna borrowedmoney to start homeRuiz said his daughter had taken out a loan of about $10,000 to construct the foundation of a home she planned to build for herself near the family’s property.From that money, she had loaned her ex-boyfriend $4,500, which she wanted back to move forward with her construction plans.Ruiz alleged the dispute stemmed from money his daughter had lent him.“I feel hurt because when he came here when they were together, I showed him love. I’ve never shown him hate...Borrow is borrow. She never gave you the money, she lent you it,” he recalled.Ruiz said he had spoken with the former boyfriend before the incident and urged him to repay the money to avoid any dispute. “I even called him one day and told him, instead of anything happening, give her back her money. He said, ‘Okay, Papa. I can’t give her all. I’ll give her half and pay the rest later.’”He said after that conversation, his daughter began receiving offensive messages, which she showed him.“I never expected this. I never expected murder. I would have thought quarrelling and arguing. But now I come home to hear she died by multiple stab wounds, and over $4,500?”Shayanna’s stepsister, who asked not to be identified, remembered Ruiz as outspoken, caring and fiercely protective of those closest to her.“She was a very loving person. She had no children, but all of her siblings’ children were her children. She was the protector of the family because anytime anyone was under stress, it was always her who would step up. If anyone talked bad about any of us, she was the one defending everyone,” she said.The stepsister said Ruiz enjoyed fashion and worked to afford the things she wanted rather than relying on others.“She loved to dress up. She loved brands, and she always worked for her money to buy those things.”The murder toll for the year so far stood at 221 up to last night. The toll at the same time last year was 226.
