Newlywed shot dead while on honeymoon
Hubby in critical condition after suspected botched robbery at posh Caribbean resort
July 31, 2008
THE Mullanys had been married for less than a month.
Dr Catherine Mullany and her husband Benjamin, in a wedding photograph dated 12 Jul and released by the police on 28 Jul. -- Pictures: REUTERS
And they were due to return home to Wales the next day, to begin their new life together.
But on 27 Jul, they were attacked while they slept in their luxury resort cottage in the Caribbean resort of Antigua, where they had been on their honeymoon.
Dr Catherine Mullany, 31, a hospital paediatrician, was fatally shot in the head.
Mr Benjamin Mullany, who is the same age and was training to be a physiotherapist, was found shot in the neck, reported The Times.
He is in the intensive care unit of the island's hospital with a bullet lodged in his brain.
He is said to be showing no signs of brain activity and is not responding to painful stimuli, reported The Daily Telegraph yesterday.
It is understood that three to six people have been detained for questioning.
Most of them have a history of committing similar crimes or crimes in that area, said reports.
Ironcially, Dr Mullany had reportedly sent her friend an SMS just hours before the shooting, calling Antigua 'beautiful and lush like the Garden of Eden'.
DOOR KICKED IN 
The couple on an unidentified holiday in an undated handout photo released by South Wales Police on 28 Jul. They were attacked in the former British colony of Antigua.
Guests in neighbouring cottages alerted the police at 5am on Sunday after hearing several gunshots.
Some reportedly heard shouts and screams from the Mullanys' cottage before the shots.
The police later found that the couple's possessions had been rifled through and their door appeared to have been kicked in.
The hillside resort complex has 19 cottages that cost up to £330 ($894) a night, set in sprawling gardens overlooking the beach.
The shootings appeared to be part of a crime spree over the weekend in which at least two other people were shot by masked gunmen in separate incidents.
Ms Beverley Stairs, a fellow guest who had befriended the Mullanys on holiday, told the Daily Mirror that the couple had told her at dinner the previous night that they were planning to start a family.
Dr Mullany graduated from London's Imperial College School of Medicine in 2002.
Mr Mullany had been training in Bristol.
Last night, their two families issued a joint statement expressing their shock and devastation and asking for privacy from the media.
The police said that Mr Mullany's condition had deteriorated from the time he was found, reported The Daily Telegraph, quoting an Antigua police inspector.
When officers arrived at the scene, Mr Mullany was reportedly able to signal to them with his finger, but within two hours, his condition worsened and he went into a coma.
SECURITY CHECK
Antigua's Police Commissioner Gary Nelson said his 350-strong force is going all out to capture those responsible, adding that it was the island's first visitor homicide in more than 10years.
It was also reported that the police would look into whether there had been security lapses at the hotel, which employs guards.
So far, no murder weapon has been found.
Antigua is the larger and more developed of the two islands that make up the country Antigua and Barbuda, and it is a popular tourist spot among Britons.
UK's Foreign Office recently expanded its advice on crime in Antigua, warning of a surge in robberies.
Last year, 19 people were killed in the island, up from the average of six or seven a year in previous years.
Dr Mullany's uncle, Mr Gareth Jones, said that his son, who had honeymooned in Antigua five years ago, regarded the island as too violent to visit again.
'They didn't like to go out at night,' Mr Jones said.
Source:
http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/st...72023,00.html? 
Newlywed shot dead while on honeymoon 
Re: Newlywed shot dead while on honeymoon 
really sad that this had happened after their wedding..
