The main suspect in the rape and murder of 14-year-old Woodley Park schoolgirl, Basmattie ‘Manda’ Moonsammy is being sought by police but was not found during checks at his home yesterday.
Moonsammy, of Woodley Park Village, West Coast Berbice is suspected to have been raped and murdered. Her decomposing body was discovered in a rice field aback of the village on Saturday morning. The body was clad in a black bra with the skirt and underwear pulled down to her knees. A string was also tied tightly around her neck.
S
peaking with Stabroek News yesterday, her grieving mother, Padmawattie Dyall, recounted that on July 29, she woke up early, cooked and left for her job of walking and selling coconut oil. Upon her return home that evening, she said, her daughter was not at home but she did not find this unusual as the girl would usually go to her father’s home and return the following day. “Meh left a cloth in the door fuh she push the door and come in because when I drop down on the bed deh, I does be tired… I don’t sleep in the day, I does wuk hard whole day,” Dyall said.
On Monday, she recalled, she started to inquire at the homes of neighbours about the whereabouts of her daughter but was only told that the teen was last seen on Sunday.
The following day, the woman said, she decided to check at the home of a male with whom she was told her daughter was friendly but was informed that he was not at home. “Me go to (the man’s) house and ask he mother if he deh home and she say no. Me ask she weh he gone, she say he gone to the Christian Church. Me say ow, which Christian Church and she say Miracle Church at Bath Settlement… Me tell them meh daughter missing and she de going around with (the man) and them say how them son nah gon like meh daughter,” she recalled as she looked down into her palms.
The woman said that on Wednesday evening, she decided to make a missing person’s report at the police station and continued her search throughout the week. “Friday night meh lay down pon meh bed, me aint know wa fuh do, me search and search and search,” she recounted.
Dyall said that on Saturday, she was at a home, doing her chores when a child came with an alarming message. “Me aint even know how me wuk ah do but all I hear is ‘Aunty Padma, Aunty Padma! Mommy ah call yuh now and I pick up myself and run and I seh ‘ow, like meh find meh pickney now’… Then them say Aunty Padma, daddy find a body but them nah know if is a man or woman,” she recalled.
According to relatives, the child was buried in a shallow grave but was seen because the body had become swollen. “Is only because the body swell that it burst the earth and come out… It can’t be one person do this thing, it got to be more than one person because if was one body that like her or love her, he won’t do that,” a relative said.
Dyall said that a strong stench emanated from the corpse resulting in persons not wanting to move close to identify the body. “Me seh is me daughter lemme go… I tek a stick and them throw water and when I see, meh holler for meh pickney… I couldn’t recognize she, she face swell up an like she skin come off,” the woman recounted. She said that a string, which seemed to have been taken from around her daughter’s jacket, was tied around her neck.”Meh does tell meh pickney them `Meh nah give away allyuh, me ah wuk and mine allyuh…’ Look how meh daughter gone an leave meh now,” the tearful mother said.
The rice farmer who made the gruesome discovery, Maniram Jainauth, told Stabroek News that the body was found in a rice field in a clear area where the mud had been “scraped” away. “The body was face down and only from here to here you coulda see (pointing to his mid-section)… Rain de fall for two night and like it wash away the mud and the body come out,” he explained.
Jainauth said that Dyall was a domestic worker at his home and described her as a hard worker and because of this, he added, he has decided to buy a coffin for her daughter’s funeral. The post-mortem examination is expected to be conducted today, the man informed.
Suspect
Residents from Woodley Park Village said that the suspect was last year acquitted of charges of rape and murder of a 13-year-old girl from Bath Settlement about four years ago. “Is the same predator because is the same position and the same way they find this girl. Same predator deh around and he strike again,” one man said. Another individual added that the body of the other child was found shoved in the sea defence blocks.
There were also claims that someone close to the family had molested the now dead teen.
This abuse, residents said, may have caused the child to get into the habit of leaving home many nights and returning in the mornings. Residents said that this is the first murder in the Woodley Park area in recent memory and the community has been shaken by the incident.
Dyall said that her daughter attended the Woodley Park Secondary School but was a “slow learner.” As a result, she opted to send her to the Bath Settlement Primary School for classes in sewing and other craft work. “She didn’t used to do good at school… If you see the mud she used to have to walk through to go to school,” the woman said while noting that she lives in a backdam area. “Meh ah try nah let them go beg, nah let them go thief or do bad thing but it hurt me today how me pickney dead a nasty death,” she cried.
Relatives said that the child was taken advantage of because of her mother’s financial difficulties in maintaining her family as a single parent. Any assistance from the public would be greatly appreciated, Dyall said.
She also complained that she was kept at the Fort Wellington Police station for almost 24 hours for questioning following the discovery of her daughter’s body. The police have been criticized in the past for detaining mourning relatives who have no clear link to the deaths of persons close to them.
Dyall whose home is on swampy land said she applied for a house lot since 2001 but still cannot get through. She is currently squatting on land belonging to a resident.
