T&T national women’s player murdered: TTFA mourns for 15-year-old Abiela Adams

“It’s heartbreaking [and] you still cannot understand how the mother or family feels right now. What could a young girl like Abiela [Adams] do to deserve what happened to her?

“We really need to deal with what is happening in our society today. All my players right now are in tears, crying because they were all close. I could hear the screams while on the phone with some of the parents this morning…”

The following is a TTFA press statement on the death of 15-year-old Trinidad and Tobago Women’s National Youth Team player and Signal Hill Secondary student, Abiela Adams, who was found murdered early this morning in Courland, Tobago. Her throat was slit:

Photo: Former Trinidad and Tobago National Under-15 player Abiela Adams, was found murdered on Saturday 11 February 2017.
Photo: Former Trinidad and Tobago National Under-15 player Abiela Adams, was found murdered on Saturday 11 February 2017.

The Trinidad and Tobago Football Association today expresses deepest condolences to the family of Abiela Adams who was found murdered in Courland, Tobago.


Abiela was member of the National Under-15 Women’s team and was a bright prospect for the National Women’s your team programme.

She was first selected to the National Under-15 Team last year and journeyed to the CONCACAF Under-15 Women’s Championship at Disney, Orlando where she represented this country’s national team in its matches at that tournament.

TTFA President David John-Williams expressed condolences to the family of Abiela.

“We are deeply saddened by the news of young Abiela’s passing. Our deepest sympathies goes out to her family and we pray that God will grant her family and her closed ones the much needed comfort and peace during this time,” said John-Williams. “The TTFA will make every effort to support the family in this difficult time. Her death comes at a time when women’s football in our country is heading in the right direction.

“We are all shocked at losing a bright prospect like her.”

Photo: Former Trinidad and Tobago National Under-15 player Abiela Adams.
Photo: Former Trinidad and Tobago National Under-15 player Abiela Adams.

Coach Marlon Charles, who led the T&T Under-15 Team for the 2016 CONCACAF Championship, expressed dismay and shock on hearing of her death.

“When you hear news like this it reflects on home because as someone you have coached, these players become part of you,” said Charles. “You think about it as a father, as a parent, as a coach, you reflect on how she would have encountered everything she had to go through.

“This is really a traumatic situation that has hit us really hard in the football fraternity. She had great potential to go on to play for other national teams and would have been part of the upcoming screening for the National Under-17 Women’s Team.


“She journeyed over from Tobago for the Under-15 screening last year and made the final selection and turned out to be one our better players and I am certain she would have been back for the Under 17s. These are dreams a young lady surely would have had and it has been taken away.”

Women’s National Under-15 Team manager Ricarda Nelson said Abiela’s former teammates were devastated by the news.

Photo: The Trinidad and Tobago Women's National Under-15 Team warms down after their 4-0 win over the Dominican Republic on 10 August 2016 in the CONCACAF Championships. (Courtesy CONCACAF)
Photo: The Trinidad and Tobago Women’s National Under-15 Team warms down after their 4-0 win over the Dominican Republic on 10 August 2016 in the CONCACAF Championships.
(Courtesy CONCACAF)

“It’s heartbreaking [and] you still cannot understand how the mother or family feels right now,” said Nelson. “What could a young girl like Abiela do to deserve what happened to her? We really need to deal with what is happening in our society today.

“All my players right now are in tears, crying because they were all close. I could hear the screams while on the phone with some of the parents this morning.

“I am a mother and you have to ask how do you deal with something like this. Her mother was always there at training last year. We even thought that her mother didn’t have a job because she was always there to assist with the team and her daughter, traveling back and forth between Trinidad and Tobago.”

Photo: Former Trinidad and Tobago National Under-15 player Abiela Adams, was found murdered on Saturday 11 February 2017.
Photo: Former Trinidad and Tobago National Under-15 player Abiela Adams, was found murdered on Saturday 11 February 2017.
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437 comments

  1. Where is womantra? Why are they silent once again?Seems like only when its political they have a voice ,my condolences to the family of this child sad indeed

  2. The lecoto junbie prowling the land, he said he went there…. And gotten rid of a former PM… So is blood it want now for favors granted… As long as he’s there there will be no end….. Be warned, hope you’re not the next victim.

  3. Boy according to dem jamcian them jungle justice for them bloodclat them raper boy who wanna kill off d likkle gal picme them slow painful fucking death for allyuh

  4. PEOPLE WE ARE SAD ABOUT THIS BUT GUESS WAT,, WHY WE DONT KEEP OUR CHILDREN CLOSE TO US NOW,, DONT LET THE WEY SHE DIED BE IN VAIN, DROP YUH CHILD TO SCHOOL SEND HER UNCLE TO TAKE HER UP YES EVEN IF SHE IS 17 OR 18…NO WE SEEING WAT HAPPENING AN STILL CALLIN ON D GOVERNMENT, ROWLEY CHILDREN AN GRAN CHILDREN ARE BEING SECURED,, ALL YUH WAIT DEY

  5. Demonds are walking on the earth in the Form of human

  6. Not AGAIN!
    There are savages amongst us!

  7. Lasana you need to stop posting things that will cause panic in the population. Wha else ah go say..

  8. Anyone noticed that the nation’s response to murder has been funerals?

  9. This thing out of control ….May Allah help us….and have no mercy on these beasts who are doing this….

  10. My deepest condolences to her family – is anyone being held for any of these crimes thus far? Come on man!!!

  11. Sad, but without the details, all we can do is guess and assume.

  12. These criminals killing the country future. Start doing the same to them. Shot in sight cops. Hang them if the cop miss. Vigilante justice now. Daz the only way eye for an eye. I blasted fed up.

  13. Our mothers are creating monsters our sons are possessed they are killing our daughters what is going in with the boys and men in this world 90% of the kiling is done by men …GOD help our daughters…

    • not our mothers. US. Women. from my grandmother’s generation to my mother’s to me. to the hens i see after me.

      And I say us and women and I have yet to make child number one yet. But the truth needs to be spoken

      Cause after they are born, whether man is there or not. it is the teat, the breatst, the woman’s lap, her kitchen and the home she resides. and sorry. I am holding us responsible. IS we make them ALL> Male and Female. If they fail to become Righteous Men and Women it is OUR fault to bear or deny.

    • What do daddies do? I’m a father myself. Clearly everything is mammy’s fault though. I have an easy job it seems.
      I don’t mean to knock you eh Roseann. But I just notice that people always act like the child has one parent. Did men really earn that invisibility?

    • oh gosh. why all yuh fragile so. How many daddies like you you know Liburd?? seriously. You not smart enough to see that you are in rare camp. If you know a hundred how many is that in comparison of the thousands of no fathers, multiple men running in and out, no males, no men, and least of all, no fathers and daddies. come on

      Lasana. I cant believe you asked that last question> Really
      I clearly think you are more aware than you are. seriously

      “Did men really earn that invisibility?”

    • Lol. Nah. I’m not fragile. All I will say is women really have it hard yes.

    • Every time God did something prophetic in the bible, a woman was present, either to bring it forth, convey the message or witness as proof.

      check it

      We stopped in our role. of prophesy and bringing forth.. now we let the thing become itself. and now we have beasts of no burden

      (something so)

      and it became hard for us because in stead of witnesses bearing our standing, we have been dismissed, removed and destroyed. so now we all reap the whirlwind

      Something like that

      the mind of man is from the seed of a woman
      just like the mind of a woman is as the star of the cosmos

      lol
      i am making this up as I go along ahahahaa

      sorry. this is not a funny thread or story. apologies.
      shifting consciousness. wow.

    • deep question by the way that goes beyond itself:

      “”Did men really earn that invisibility?””

      Did males really become such effortless cold blooded murderers and destroyers (of what they did not bring: Life and Womb)

  14. this one time beautiful society is so violent,there is no answers to why? there should be a curfew for all teenagers, id cards should be a must or be detained,i’ve posted dillon, trinidad and tobago need the drones surveillance system.

  15. In the absence of by whom in the article, do we have a serial killer on the loose? This type of murder seems to require special skill and training. There were two murders like this, gang related it was said, in east port of spain in late 2015 early 2016 I believe. Two victims were young men.

  16. what clyde paul said on the link is very critical. I thought that when I heard the news this morning.

    “follow fashion”

    and call me wrong, but i so felt the shit the crime minister said was such a carte blanche check to the sick males in this society. that was super dread. but i kept my peace on mentioning it.

  17. Too many young people are being ruthlessly preyed upon and murdered. When will it end? I weep and pray for her parents, family and friends as they deal with this nightmare. This young girl’s life taken by a sick, hateful person. I hope he is shown no mercy. RIP Abeila.

  18. I feel there is a serial killer around targeting our teen girls. This has reached crisis proportions!

  19. I am so fed up of our little girls lives being taken by these evil men,you won’t believe.

  20. My God…please shine some light upon our people of the Caribbean region..its bad all over!!!!condolences to her family friend’s and football ferternity so sad!!

  21. To think of the horror she mist have went through having a blade run across her throat, then lying there knowing her life was draining away.

    • Vernal – my brother our country gone thru. A set a weak men in the place taking advantage of women at every level. This thing brought tears to my eyes – this hurts plenty

    • Honestly the citizenry needs to shut down this country for a week with one massive peaceful nationwide protest.
      Otherwise the authorities will continue to ignore the problem.

    • What is the problem? Maybe, even at 15, she chose the wrong person,? I keep waiting for national outrage for one of these deaths. But we continue in our complacency. This is a 15 year old child whose life was gruesome ended. My blood ran cold and I felt sick to my stomach when I went MovieTowne recently. Exactly as you said, imagining that other horrific death. Do we have many human beings here? Why are we not admitting defeat, we can’t deal with the problem. Bring in help. ASAP. Any more deaths without action, bring in RLM to bring a case against the gov’t for negligence.

  22. I am still trying to wrap my mind around this , she took part in our beach soccer tournament last November we are still in shock

  23. I am going to read the article. but the first thing that strikes me as I read the caption is how we are stewed and steeped in twisted thinking.

    : ““What could a young girl like Abiela [Adams] do to deserve what happened to her?”

    Do you see that??
    It indicates the person saying that believes that people deserve what happens to them. That there must be that reason if to just ferret it out. Madness.

    Not, what mad monstrous creatures we have roaming and living and breathing among us? (Sorry. my conscience would not let me be PC… no metaphors, no descriptives. — What mad mentally sick males and men of this population; and why so many of them====) but what did she do…

    Cause that is the fact. we have a male gender problem in this country. up to bottom of the strata. the powerful ladies getting beat and slapped by their men, the poor and or young at the bottom are getting slashed and murdered

    part of our crisis is we are destined to stay in it until we change that reality. It also indicates we are all ready to meter out punishment, what ever and how extreme it may be when ‘deserved”

    and i hold myself in that frame cause I do have a list of folk to care for

    _____

    That said, I have a solution, I think , an idea to stem these murders, incidences, and bodies piling up,

    Either we as citizens pay for it and distribute, let those who can pay do so. or we beg the govt, the ministry of national security to purchase and we distribute

    Is anyone willing to help make either or happen.
    It does require some bank.

  24. Well let us simply blame the victim. Easy.

  25. There has been for a very long time in TT a violent under current. There has been for a very long time a tendency toward brutality toward women . I remember growing up and hearing the elders telling tales of Mano Benjamin and Boysie Singh – two very brutal and evil fellas. But as a society we never addressed it. It became a part of the lore and today we are no better at addressing it. Two women – throat slit in the space of ten days. Another 15 yr old raped in a classroom. I’m shocked but again the fish rots from the head.

    • This is so scary. For me, more so, since this took place in Tobago. In my naivete, I have not associated Tobago with such a gruesome death. Of a child. We truly need a day.of prayer for this country (yes, we need action too) but too much blood running unnaturally too. Sometimes I feel death here is like the lotto, you can be a random ‘winner’ because there seems no sense or logic to explain the scourge of violence we are facing.

    • But other people were killed violently enough in Tobago. I’m not sure that any of those murders were even solved ?

  26. And this government say we don’t have a problem

  27. Anyhow eh …. case closed.
    Leh we eh fool we self!

  28. What a 15yo doing allegedly going out with ah 19yo is my first concern …

  29. “Her mother was always there”…..and yet. And still……

  30. Follow fashion crime. That evil foolish person killed an innocent child. Ignorance and stupidity rules.

  31. And no one in authority has even attempted to offer a solution …. beyond “choose better man”.

    • Truth is crime is not a government problem..it’s an ‘US’ problem. The government should be putting measures in place to curb crime but that’s just part of the problem. Our culture is unfortunately our blessing and our curse. It takes all hands on deck to effectively deal with crime. We talk too much and do too little!

    • We still need to know what d hell they’re doing to curb it! What hell are we paying them for… there should be measures to cause people to think twice…. steups regardless what party people vote for we must be honest about situations

    • Cherisse Moe, we gave the police special powers to carry firearms and search our homes and so on for a reason though. That’s their job.

    • Ofc. Lasana Liburd and we all know that the police service fill up with corrupt officers which is another serious problem. How they gonna deal with crime when they in bed with the criminals? But I was making the point that crime is not only a government problem..Yes they were elected to serve and protect our citizens but we also need to do our part.

    • Yes. But what though Cherisse? People aren’t harbouring criminals. Killers are striking with impunity. We can’t be forming vigilante squads. Even that would be a sign that the police have lost control.

    • Ahhh but some are tho! You know how many among us know their friends/sons/daughters/husbands etc in crime? And i dont mean selling a lil weed eh..i mean Crime. But they turn a blind eye because they enjoy the life too. They don’t report anything to the police and thus become enablers..while it may seem trivial it is a big part of the problem. We do harbour criminals. I’m not saying the government shouldn’t shoulder blame..bcus as far as I’m concerned Rowley and his clan MIA. I don’t knw if they skipped the country or what? But we need to pressure the government. We need to weed out corrupt officers and officials. Both political parties have failed us..Now what? We need to speak up when we see something wrong. Our society rants and raves for about 5-7 days and then nothing..

    • Well, I guess those murderers have to be somewhere. And like Martin Daly wrote, some of them will be jumping up next to us for Carnival.
      But our police service isn’t inspiring any confidence. How can they pretend that it’s all good?

    • Indeed. Mr Daly was spot on..They will be jumping up normal normal!!! Smh

  32. And some remain in denial. If this isn’t a crisis, then I don’t know what is.

  33. Lasana, I am so fed of this place, everyday you wake up is another child gone, and not naturally.

  34. I am so sick, tired and embarrassed by these murders Trinidad has become synonymous with that I cannot adequately articulate it.

  35. Is it a crisis yet? Because it feels like it. I really feel for her friends and family…

  36. WTF I reading here?…people sick in this place

  37. Wtf??? What is wrong with these people? Smh

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