– boyfriend held for questioning
The semi-nude and partially decomposed body of a woman was discovered yesterday morning in a trench on Thomas Lands, outside the Malteenos Sports Club Ground.
Dead is Creavone Thorne, 26, of Lot 35 Lyng Street, Charlestown, who had lived and worked in Antigua, but returned home regularly. Her boyfriend was held for questioning yesterday afternoon, Stabroek News was told.
At the time of the discovery, Thorne’s body was clad only in a dark-coloured top and underwear. It was fished out of the trench halfway between the African Cultural Development Association (ACDA) building and Albert Street, opposite the National Park. That area is dark and secluded at night and it has been a dumping ground for murdered persons over the years.
According to the reports reaching Stabroek News, a Lamaha Railway Embank-ment resident, who would usually graze his cattle at the Malteenos ground, went there yesterday morning around 7 o’clock and discovered that one of the cows had wandered off. Sunil Persaud saw his cow grazing on the parapet in the vicinity of the ACDA building and was chasing it back into the sports club ground, when he spotted what appeared to be human buttocks sticking out of the grass in the trench.
The man’s brother, Rishi Persaud, told Stabroek News yesterday that he received a telephone call from Sunil, who asked him to go and get the cow because he had just seen a body in the trench. Sunil then called the police and pointed out his discovery to them.
When Stabroek News arrived on the scene, police tape cordoned the section of the trench where Thorne’s body was and detectives and uniformed officers were conducting investigations. Some officers were directing the traffic which had slowed to a crawl as motorists attempted to find out what was happening. Sunil was talking to the police and later taken away in a police vehicle to make a statement.
The woman’s body was in a clump of grass; part of it from the waist down was submerged in the trench. It appeared as though it had been there for several days, an officer told this newspaper and there were visible marks of violence about her body. Thorne’s remains are at the Lyken’s Funeral Home and a post-mortem examination is expected to be conducted today.
Missing
Thorne’s relatives and friends were in shock and tears over the gruesome manner of her death. Her mother, Yvette Parris, was being consoled as she sat on a chair just outside her home, which is a short distance from the home Thorne shared with her boyfriend.
Stabroek News was told that the woman was last seen on Monday night and subsequent efforts to contact her on her cellular phone were futile. However, no missing persons report was made to the police.
Her cousin, Keisha Parris, said that on Monday night some time after 7 pm the woman was “gaffing” with relatives on Sussex Street, a short distance from her home when she told them ‘Ah coming back. Ah going and mek a fine spin’. That was the last time they saw her alive, Parris said.
Relatives tried calling Thorne’s phone subsequently but it was turned off. However, yesterday it was ringing out when dialled. They said they had been worried since it was unlike the young woman to stay away from home without informing anyone. A relative said that they had decided to start searching for her yesterday, when they heard that a body with a tattoo on the foot was found and was at the mortuary.
They later confirmed that it was Thorne, who did have a tattoo on her foot. At that time, the body was in a box outside Le Repentir Mortuary because of the state of decomposition.
However, at the relatives’ request, Thorne’s body was subsequently taken to the Lyken’s Funeral home.
Thorne was described as a very social person who liked to party a lot and who was always in a hurry. She leaves to mourn her parents Rudolph Thorne and Yvette Parris along with six siblings.
In November 2006, the body of 13-year-old Letroy Harris was found a few metres from the spot where Thorne’s body was discovered.
Persons driving along Thomas Lands had noticed the child’s naked body floating in the trench.
At the time of his death Harris was a student of St Winefride’s Secondary School and a resident of Sophia.
A post-mortem examination revealed that he died from drowning and blunt trauma to the head. It was also discovered that he had been sexually assaulted before he was killed. His murder is unsolved and no one was ever held for questioning.