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Trio burnt to death… Jilted man might have poisoned partner, daughter before torching house
Investigators are said to be looking at a theory which suggest that 34-year-old Leonard Pollard might have poisoned his estranged partner and one-year-old daughter before setting his house on fire at Lot 1 Beterverwagting,
East Coast Demerara (ECD) on Sunday.
Neighbours in the area said that when the fire was blazing, they heard no screams and had no idea that people were in the house.
The charred bodies of Latoya Telford, Leonard Pollard, 34, and his one-year-old daughter, Nakasia Pollard, were found in the burnt-out building that was set alight around 02:30hrs on Sunday.
While initial reports suggested that the woman might have been hacked to death, police sources said that this might not be the case.
“If she was chopped, people would have heard screams or even if both she and the baby were burnt to death, people would have still heard something,” the source suggested.
It is suspected that the woman and her child might have been poisoned.
Pollard and Latoya Telford, who had three children, separated last November after his mother instructed Pollard to vacate her home to accommodate a relative.
Kaieteur News was informed that the woman and her children moved to her mother’s La Parfaite Harmonie, West Bank Demerara (WBD) home and would sometimes take the children to visit their father.
On Saturday afternoon, Telford allegedly left her mother’s home with little Nakasia to visit Pollard at his Beterverwagting home.
According to information, the murder-suicide may have stemmed from a text message Pollard found in his estranged partner’s phone. The message was reportedly from a man.
His brother, Leon, said that his sibling had showed him a text message some time last week in which a man texted his estranged partner asking, “Morning baby, how are you. What time are you finishing work?”
Leon Pollard revealed that his sibling called him Saturday midday and informed him that Telford was coming over, but claimed that he warned his brother against having her there because his mother does not want her at the house.
The sibling said that he expected something like this would have occurred because of the way the couple was living. Telford had reportedly moved to her mother’s place on four previous occasions.
Residents at a wash bay opposite the burnt house said that Pollard, who allegedly “loved” his marijuana, went over to borrow a bicycle to go to the shop. He claimed that he couldn’t find his cycle.
This newspaper was told upon his return, he had a bottle, suspected to be gasoline, wrapped in a plastic bag and a pumpkin.
Residents suspected that he might have cooked and laced the food with a poisonous substance.
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