Trial of man charged in teacher's murder delayed

Christopher Thomas, Gleaner Writer

Western Bureau:

The much-anticipated first court appearance of 46-year-old taxi-operator Ivan Taylor, the man charged in connection with the abduction and murder of Trinidad and Tobago schoolteacher Michelle Coudray-Greaves, has failed to get under way.

An investigator familiar with the case, which was scheduled to begin yesterday, told The Gleaner that the case file was not ready, resulting in the delay.

The lawman said the case was now expected to start today.

Earlier this week, Sergeant Peter Salkey, the Constabulary Communication Network liaison officer for St James, told The Gleaner investigators were busy trying to get the case file ready for Taylor to make a first appearance in the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday.

Taylor, who operated as a 'contract taxi operator' for Coudray-Greaves, was taken into police custody as a person of interest shortly after she went missing. His status was upgraded to suspect after the teacher's burnt body was found in a cane field.

Separated from husband

The 39-year-old Coudray-Greaves, who is the mother of three young children, resided in a rented house in the Cornwall Courts area of Montego Bay. She was married to a Jamaican man but at the time of her death, they had been separated.

Coudray-Greaves, who taught Spanish at Cornwall College between January and April of this year, is the daughter of Trinidadian politician Marlene Coudray, who is the mayor of San Fernando and minister of gender affairs in the T&T parliament.

Coudray-Greaves' remains were cremated here in Jamaica and subsequently returned to Trinidad, where they were buried in a cemetery in her hometown. At the time she went missing, she was in negotiations to take up another temporary teaching job at Cornwall College.

christopher.thomas@gleanerjm.com