The bad news all started with rumours that the body of a teenage girl was found in the bathroom of a shopping mall in Rodney Bay last Thursday evening. The rumours proved to be a BlackBerry prank that no one found funny, but after that the weekend just seemed to go downhill.
It was one tragic occurrence after the other to the point that some people just decided it was best to stay indoors and see what happened next. At the end of what can only be described as a bloody weekend, six people lost their lives in various incidences including a traffic accident, one suspected suicide, multiple shootings and other violent acts.
In one of those incidences, Laila Norgaard originally from Denmark who resided in St Lucia was murdered in her Soufriere home. Friends of the 39-year-old described her as a “sweetheart”—a woman with a passion for horses and life in general who was “one of the most loving people you’d ever meet.” On Monday, October 17 when the STAR visited the place she’d once called home, there was nothing to smile about. Laila had been killed three days earlier when two masked men invaded the house where she’d lived with her St Lucian husband of three months.
Police reports indicate that on Friday night Laila was at her house along with her husband and two other individuals, when two masked men entered the house, one armed with a firearm and the other a cutlass. According to friends, Laila had just returned home from
Anse La Raye Fish
Friday night with two of her employees minutes earlier and was in the middle of recounting the night’s occurrences. The intruders snuck in, catching them all off guard and reportedly demanded money from her. Laila was shot in the head according to sources immediately after she asked them what money they were speaking of.
Soufriere police responded to the report about 10:30pm on Friday, October 14 at Cemetery Road, Soufriere. Laila was taken to the Soufriere Hospital where she was pronounced dead. No one has been arrested in connection with the incident and according to police a motive has not been established.
Laila’s husband did not wish to speak with the media, but employees spoke of the wonderful person they’d known Laila to be.
“She was a very kind, wonderful woman,” said one employee who’d helped her out with her wine and coffee shop. “She helped us along, gave us jobs . . . I’d come to help her in the shop sometimes. We’ve had some good times. She was a very loving woman, that’s one thing I can say about her.” Another employee added: “She’s one of those people who’d always tell it to you how it is. A loving, kind lady—no word like loving or caring is enough to describe her; good isn’t even enough. I know what I’m telling you. She never disrespected anyone.”
“That was her dream,” he added, speaking of the horse stables Laila had left behind. “Driving to work with her dog at the back
of her van, and now for her to die in her own kitchen with her husband there and two other guys.”
The young man didn’t know what would become of the stables she’d managed in Soufriere but was hoping for the best.
“We can’t just throw away her dreams because she’s not there,” he said. “That was her dream, she had a passion for horses. Laila wouldn’t even kill a fly; she was irie so much..”
Another man who did not want to be named expressed that he and others were doubtful whether robbery was the main reason for her death, especially considering that no one else was hurt, nor was money that was in plain sight taken from the house that night.
Sources say Laila had no other relatives living in St Lucia,
apart from her ex husband from her native country. She leaves behind two young children, now left to carry on without their mother.
The government recently launched the United Against Crime campaign calling on Saint Lucians to develop a zero-tolerance attitude towards crime.
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