Residents of the quiet community of Foulmouth situated on the right bank of the Essequibo River, were last evening living in fear as a 20-year-old man, who is wanted by the police in connection with the murder of a 50-year-old woman, remained at large.
The man is said to be hiding out at the back of the community obliquely opposite to Bartica. When Stabroek News visited the community yesterday, relatives of Patricia Williams were still trying to come to grips with the gruesome murder and according to them, the police ‘seem to be lazing around’, one resident noting that the suspect is known to them and he had been making several threats to residents in the area.
Recounting the events of Monday night, one resident, who lives close to the river bank where the woman met her demise, told this newspaper that he and his relatives were in his home, and had locked up for the night when he heard a commotion close to his yard, near the river bank. He said he and his family members were looking at a movie at the time and it was only after the woman’s brother, who she had moments earlier dropped off and who lives approximately 100 yards from the scene, raised an alarm, that he realized something was amiss. That was shortly after 11 pm on Monday, the man stated.
According to the man, Williams’ brother related that he, the suspect and three other individuals were ‘drinking’ at Bartica and the woman, who operated a small boat equipped with a 45-horse power outboard engine in her spare time, decided to ferry them home, the suspect being the last to be dropped off close to where he (the resident) lives. The woman’s brother was preparing to go to sleep when he heard a faint cry coming from the scene of the incident, a nearby landing and according to the resident, William’s brother stated that he ran to the scene where he discovered his sister’s skirt and her underwear floating in the water. He said other residents by this time arrived at the scene and they observed that the water close to the river bank was disturbed.
Residents in the community took this newspaper along the river bank from the landing where the incident took place to a clump of bushes situated some 200 yards away where the woman’s partly nude body was eventually discovered, her head resting on a piece of wood, they related. They said from what they observed, the man may have attacked Williams and after she put up a fight, he dragged her along the river bank before making good his escape in the nearby bushes. The grass close to where Williams’ body was found remained disturbed yesterday while several footprints were still visible on the ground close to the clump of bushes where her body was found. The residents said that the entire ordeal lasted some 40 minutes but according to them, they were slow to react since their houses are situated far from each other and there are no roads connecting their yards, the only means of transportation to each other’s home being by boat.
They told this newspaper yesterday that since the incident there have been several sightings of the suspect, who once served time for rape.
A resident related that her husband was in the ‘back dam’ when he saw the man with a ‘crow bar’ hiding among some bushes on Tuesday afternoon and following an alarm the man was pursued by members of the community policing group but he managed to escaped.
Williams’ niece Lynette Braithwaite told this newspaper that residents in the sparsely populated community were deeply concerned about their safety, noting that the suspect had been in contact with his relatives who live in the area and who are reported to be providing him with food and clothing. She said that the suspect recently returned to Foulmouth from the interior where he worked as a miner and had been on a spending spree since. She said that residents in the community are mainly engaged in farming while the males would venture into the mining areas in search of gold.
As she looked at Bartica in the distance, Braithwaite related that since the incident, her mother who is recovering from an ailment after being hospitalized several weeks ago has taken a turn for the worse.
She said that parents have been keeping close tabs on their children and according to the woman, since the suspect was released from prison sometime ago, residents in the community were concerned about his presence among them. She said the suspect told some men from the community on Tuesday night that the act was a ‘revenge killing’ since a relative of Williams was held responsible several years ago for his father’s death.
William’s brother, known as ‘Bats’, who alerted residents on Monday night of the incident, was in Georgetown yesterday where a post-mortem examination was expected to be performed on his sister’s body.
Over at Parrot Island (also known as Far Rock), situated between Bartica and Foulmouth, where Williams lived and worked as a security guard, her younger brother Cedric Williams was preparing for a wake for his sister. He said that he only travelled down from the interior two weeks ago to be with his sister; adding that he would usually stay with her. As he tried to come to grips with his loss, the man said that his sister’s husband, who is based in the interior, was informed of her death on Tuesday and he is expected home today.
Residents in the community were last evening calling on the police to act quickly in order to have the suspect apprehended since according to them; the man remains a threat to their safety. They said since a team of police officers visited the riverside community on Tuesday afternoon, the law enforcement officers have not returned to the community. According to the police, an investigation has been launched into the circumstances surrounding the death.