SPALDING, Clarendon — Brandon Maine, the taxi operator implicated in the murder of a St Catherine teacher and her teen daughter, reportedly confessed to a relative that he had committed the double murder, a day after he fled to Tweedside near here in north-west Clarendon.

“He left and went to town [Kingston] from long time, so when I saw him pop up Wednesday morning… that time I didn’t know he did such a gruesome murder and come here and a do like everything alright,” the relative, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told the Jamaica Observer.

Maine was found dead on Friday about 1:00 pm hanging from a mango tree in a yard in Tweedside. The police are probing his death as a suspected case of suicide.

On Thursday, the bodies of 29-year-old Tara Pinnock, who taught at a primary school in St Catherine, and her 14-year-old daughter Tally Wright were discovered at a premises in Mount View, near St Jago Heights in St Catherine.

A photo of murder victim Tara Pinnock. She and her 14-year-old daughter Tally Wright were found dead at their home in Mount View near Keystone in St Catherine on Thursday.

According to Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Hopton Nicholson, cops were alerted to suspicious activities on the Mount View premises sometime after 1:00 pm and upon entering, the bodies were discovered.

The police had named Maine as a person of interest in relation to the double murder.

Maine’s relative said the taxi operator’s sudden appearance on Wednesday seemed suspicious to him. He said that on Thursday night Maine confessed to committing the double murder.

“A from Wednesday morning him deh here, but a last night (Thursday) him really confirm to me and told me what took place,” he told the Observer.

With there being no electricity in the area and insufficient telecommunication service to call the police, the relative said he, his partner, and children hurriedly left their house and sought refuge elsewhere in fear of their lives.

He said on Friday he left the community and contacted the police, informing them of the situation and was told to confirm to them that Maine was still in the area.

“I called the police [who I know] and let them know what was happening… I went to look for him [Maine] and I wasn’t hearing any answer and when I looked up on the mango tree it was him. I think he hanged himself from last night (Thursday),” the relative said.

“I made sure to call the police, because I don’t want them to say I harbour a fugitive,” he added.

He also explained why he ran from his home the moment Maine reportedly confessed.

“We pack up and go [to another relative] go sleep, because me a say if him do a thing like that, from him come Wednesday morning he should have told me. He said he was afraid to tell me. He told me that he chopped the woman and the daughter a come to save her… He said the woman have up his $3.5 million that he had saved up to buy a bus and she a diss him…” the relative stated.

On Thursday, police were theorising that the double murder was a domestic matter.

“The information that we received so far and the preliminary investigation, it appears as if the perpetrator(s) of this double murder had access to the premises as preliminary investigation has not revealed any forced entry,” SSP Nicholson said in an audio release on Thursday, describing the murders as “cowardly”.

The relative said Maine reportedly told another family member that he and his woman were having a problem.

“… But I was saying to leave from town and to come a country and how much year you don’t come back, something inna something, but he never told me right away. He came, parked his vehicle, and go sleep in the bush,” the relative said.

“He didn’t gain any access to my house, because if me and you a family, or even friend, and I don’t see you come here for couple years well, and all of a sudden you a move sideways like crab, then I am not going to give into you like that,” the relative added.

He said Maine grew up in Tweedside before moving to St Catherine.

“Him born and grow here, but his mother lived in Portmore. She died and left a house give him and so comes he live up there and a run taxi from Spanish Town to Naggo Head and Braeton,” the relative said.