Fifteen months after the decomposing remains of Creavone Thorne were fished out of a Thomas Lands trench, her relatives remain convinced that a suspect was released prematurely by the police without proper analysis of the evidence they had found implicating him.
According to them, the suspect began behaving differently after the 26-year-old woman did not return home. This along with a muddied bicycle and bloodstained pants they had found left them certain that he had committed the crime. But after spending three days in the Brickdam lockups the man was released although they had handed over the pants to the police.
When contacted recently about the investigations, Crime Chief Seelall Persaud dismissed the accusations of the woman’s relatives particularly the handing over of the bloodstained pants which he said was untrue. He told this newspaper that the investigations stalled because police were unable to locate a taxi driver who they wanted for questioning.
Reports are that around 7 am on November 27, 2008 a man spotted the body while looking for a cow that had wandered off from a nearby field.
Relatives said they had last seen the Antigua-based woman, several nights before when she left the Charlestown area, saying “ah coming back. Ah going and mek a fine spin”.
They tried calling Thorne’s cellular phone but it was turned off. However, on the day of the discovery it was ringing out when dialled.
Thorne’s boyfriend who was reportedly the last person to speak with her was held for questioning hours after the discovery but was subsequently released.
A post-mortem examination conducted on the remains revealed that she died as a result of manual strangulation.
During a recent interview with Stabroek News, her mother Yvette Parris said tears fill her eyes every time she thinks about her daughter’s gruesome death. She said it pains her to know that a man she treated like one of her children could have betrayed her in such a manner.
“If de two of them had a problem, he coulda come to me and talk about it man. He ain’t had to do she dat… Every time he see me he does run because he knows he did it,” the grief stricken woman said.
Parris explained that Thorne and the suspect had been together for about six years. Less than two months before her death the woman had returned from Antigua where she had been living and was staying with the suspect.
According to Parris, Thorne left the area on November 24 and the next morning her twin daughters informed her that the woman did not come home. She told this newspaper that this was unlike her daughter and she subsequently contacted the woman’s father.
“He [the suspect] come to me and said that Creavy ain’t come home and I turn and ask he is what nonsense he telling me,” she said adding that he left after telling her several different stories about telephone conversations the two shared the night before.
The woman said he subsequently told others that Thorne slept at her that night and then said she slept at a friend.
Parris said that they found the man’s behaviour strange and later on November 24, he told her that he was going to work on a ship. However, the man never left the area.
Relatives told this newspaper, that the man was possessive and jealous of Thorne and on several occasions he had choked her. However, the woman did not report any of the abuses to the police.
Evidence
Trying to control her emotions, Thorne’s mother said that the police had all the evidence against the man but nothing was done with it.
She recalled that while the man was in the Brickdam lock ups he kept insisting that they bring him a specific pair of long pants.
“He kept insisting that he want this particular pants and when we go and get the pants and examine it we find a bloodstain on it. We went and give the police,” she said.
Prior to his arrest, the man had borrowed a washing machine plug from a relative and according to Parris he started “washing clean clothes and he dirty clothes together. Like after he kill she he start fuh get confuse. The washing machine even ketch afire”.
Thorne’s aunt, who was present during the interview, said the couple had recently bought a washing machine and the day after the disappearance, the man went to borrow her washing machine plug. The aunt said that she didn’t think too much of it and lent it to him.
Parris added that the man had borrowed her son’s bicycle but lied when he was asked for it. According to her, he told her son he left it at a game shop but it was later found at the back of his yard covered in grass and mud.
Around 1 am the day before her remains were found, one of Thorne’s brothers saw the suspect on the bicycle heading north along Camp Street dressed in a short pants and a pair of rubber slippers. Parris said that the suspect was asked where he was going but did not respond.
The woman said she believed he had gone back to the scene to ensure that her daughter was dead. “Where else could he be going at that hour of the morning and half dressed too?” the woman questioned.
She said statements were collected from several persons about the man’s strange behaviour and incriminating things he had said and done.
Taxi driver
Parris added that if the police had declared the taxi driver a suspect, an arrest warrant should have been issued for him. She said that relatives have since learnt his name but when they visited the area where he operates he could not be found.
According to her, the suspect and Thorne were seen boarding the taxi at a Charlestown bakery but no one could say where they ended up.
She was adamant that had the police questioned the suspect more they would have found the taxi driver they were seeking.
“The police should have put out an arrest warrant for this taxi driver, cause is he car they been in. The police shoulda even check his [the suspect’s] phone,” the upset woman said.
She said that after realizing that the investigations were heading nowhere she went to Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee and told her story. During March last year, she received a letter from the minster saying that the police were awaiting the advice of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
However, several checks by this newspaper with the DPP and police were futile.
“It is like no justice will be done. I can’t get justice from the police,” she said adding that with all the evidence that was presented the suspect should have been placed before the court.
“But just to see that all that evidence was there and he get loose; it pains,” the woman told this newspaper adding that months after the murder she confronted the suspect but he said nothing. “I just tell he, that I gon leave it to God.”