Man held in Lym murders to be released

THE MAN who has been in police custody for the brutal slaying of Arlene Lym and her mother, Dorothy Lym, at their St Andrew apartment complex last month, was scheduled to be released yesterday.

The decision to release him, according to Senior Superintendent of Police Derrick Knight, who heads the St Andrew Central Police Division, was taken because investigators have found no evidence linking him to the early-morning attack.

"We are going to release him today (yesterday) because we have nothing to link him to the crimes," he told The Gleaner, adding that the investigations would continue.

lesser charge

Knight, however, pointed out that the man, whose identity has not yet been released, would be charged with possession of an offensive weapon for the knife that was taken from him at the time he was apprehended.

Arlene Lym, 48, who was the executive assistant to GraceKennedy Chairman Douglas Orane, and her mother, Dorothy, 73, were stabbed repeatedly at their Queens Way, St Andrew, home shortly after 6 a.m. on March 25 by a lone attacker.

Private security company Guardsman Limited, in a statement hours after the brutal attack, said the man was apprehended by one of its quick-response teams with "a bloody knife" in his possession minutes after the slayings and handed over to the Half-Way Tree police.

no evidence

However, Knight said tests have shown that there was no blood on the man or the knife he was carrying at the time he was held.

The Constabulary Communication Network (CCN) reported that both women were at home when residents reported hearing screams for help coming from their apartment and saw a man leaving the premises.

According to CCN, residents went to the apartment where both women were found with stab wounds.

"Dorothy was found lying in the yard with stab wounds and was taken to the University Hospital of the West Indies where she died while undergoing treatment. Arlene died on the spot," CCN said.