Coudray murder suspect charged

Police in Jamaica charge man with abduction and murder of Trinidad minister’s daughter.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago, Monday, July 2, 2012 – A 46-year-old taxi driver from Westmoreland in Jamaica has reportedly been charged with last month’s shocking kidnapping and slaying of Trinidadian Michelle Coudray-Greaves in the northern Jamaican city of Montego Bay.

According to media reports, Jamaican police charged Taylor late Saturday (June 30) after having him in custody for the past three weeks and he is due to appear before a Resident Magistrate’s Court in Montego Bay this week.

The 39-year-old Coudray-Greaves was the eldest daughter of Marlene Coudray, the recently appointed minister of gender, youth and child development.

Minister Coudray reportedly told the Trinidad Express that she was "happy" that someone was arrested and charged.

She said she knew what was happening because she kept in contact with the police in Jamaica.

"I am satisfied with the investigation. They (Jamaican police) have been helpful since the time I arrived in Jamaica and I asked them to explore all areas."

However, she is also reported to have said that she believes another person was involved in her daughter's murder.

Coudray-Greaves, who was estranged from her Jamaican husband, retuned to Jamaica at the end of May after a brief visit home with her mother, the former Mayor of San Fernando and her three children, who were living in Trinidad. The former Spanish teacher at a high school in Montego Bay was reported missing on June 8.

Her burned body was discovered in a cane field on June 11 and an autopsy found she was killed by blows from a blunt object. Although previously thought to be part of the crime cover-up, it was revealed that her body had accidentally been burned by plantation workers clearing the field.

Taylor of Lindos Hill, Withorn in Westmoreland, became a suspect after Coudray-Greaves was reportedly seen getting into a taxi near her apartment in Montego Bay before she went missing. The suspect was said to have been known to Coudray-Greaves for a year. Click here to receive free news bulletins via email from Caribbean360. (View sample)