FOLLOWING the ruling by the judge in the Friendship murder trial voir dire yesterday, the  prosecutor promised the jury to lead evidence to show how Dulcie Trim, called ‘Teacher Dolly’, had been robbed, choked, and burnt to death in a fire which gutted her home. The alleged murderers, Stephen Andrews and Roger Vyphuis, had allegedly attacked the 70-year-old woman at her home as she was leaving for church. They punched her to the ground, robbed her of $13,000, and with the use of paper and methylated spirits, set the house on fire with the woman inside.

The doctor who performed the post-mortem will say that the cause of death was due to smoke inhalation and burns. And he would also say there was a presence of soot in the trachea and bronchi, which indicated that Teacher Dolly had been alive when the fire started.

The presiding judge, Justice Dawn Gregory, who conducted the voir dire, had delivered her ruling yesterday, although leading lawyer for Vyphuis, Mr. Nigel Hughes, had taken ill and had to seek medical attention. Hughes’s junior, Miss Candacie Rodney, took the ruling for Hughes; and Miss Sonia Parag received the ruling for her client Stephen Andrews.

The major trial began in the afternoon, when state prosecutor Miss Renita Singh, in association with Miss Diana Kaulesar, delivered her opening address to the jury, wherein she told the jury that at the time of the incident in 2008, the number one accused, Andrews, was seventeen, and the accused Roger Vyphuis was 16.

On May 18, 2008 at 6.30 a.m., they all went to Ms Trim’s house, but the door was locked, so one of them broke the window and opened the door. They all went in, then one of them went to the bedroom and, to their surprise, Dulsie was at home.
She came out and started to scream, and one of them punched her in her forehead and she fell on her back.

According to the prosecutor, witnesses will say that one of the accused held on to Dulcie’s neck and shook her, and asked her where the money was. He choked her until she became unconscious and began frothing from her mouth.

The accused and another went into her bedroom, where the accused Andrews found $3,000., which he placed in his pocket, and some methylated spirits, which he placed on the mattress. Roger found $10,000.

Another one of them then pulled Dulcie into the room and left her next to the bed. They decided to light the house on fire because Dulcie had seen them.

One of them picked up some paper and placed it on the mattress.  He poured some methylated spirits on the paper and on the bed, and then threw some on Dulcie’s body before lighting the paper on the bed. A fire started, and they ran out of the house.

On May 18, 2008, the home of Teacher Dolly was gutted by fire. The remains of Dulcie Trim were picked up on May 18, 2008; and on May 21, 2008, Dr. Nehaul Singh did a post-mortem examination.
The hearing is continuing.