Princes Town woman, 82, on mend after stabbing attack

The content originally appeared on: Trinidad and Tobago Newsday

Emlyn Adams, 82, was stabbed 16 times by an unknown assailant at her home in Centenary Street, Princes Town, on August 20. – Venessa Mohammed

Despite the ruthless stabbing attack on the 82-year-old woman from Princes Town, she has managed to survive. However, the suspect remained at large.

Up to August 22, one of Emlyn Adams’ relatives told Newsday she was in stable condition at hospital with 16 stab wounds, including eight on her left shoulder and one on her left cheek.

“People are just wicked. They do not have God in their heart. Evil spirits are just roaming. She is a praying lady and that is why she is alive today. She is a quiet lady,” a relative told Newsday at the family’s home at Centenary Street.

Adams, the mother of eight and grandmother of more than ten, lives with relatives in a two-storey house.

Around 11 pm on August 19, she secured her home by locking all windows and went to bed.

She awoke around 12.15 am on August 20 and was on her way to use the bathroom when she saw a man with a knife. He stabbed her several times and then left.

Her son Hayden Adams took her to the Princes Town Health Facility, and she was transferred to the hospital.

The female relative, who asked not to be named, added that Adams was on the ground floor with two of her granddaughters, ten and 13, who were asleep.

A 15-year-old relative, who was on the first floor heard her scream and he alerted others.

“I cannot say exactly how it happened. It seems the person passed through the backdoor at the same time she got up to use the washroom. I was upstairs and did not hear her scream,” she said.

“When the incident happened, she bawled out once. After that, she got quiet. I do not know what she did for someone to attack her like that.

Nothing was taken from the house. Who knows what could have happened to the girls.”

She said the children were deeply traumatised, having to see Adams smeared with blood and whimpering in pain.

The children were expected to receive counselling from the police’s Victim and Witness Support Unit.

The police said Adams also had five stab wounds on her left abdomen and two on her left upper back.

PCs Rampersad, Ramdath, Ramjattan, Boodram and Nandoo of the Area East CID responded and gathered evidence.

No one has been arrested and so far, the police do not have a motive.

PC Ramdath is leading the investigation.