The Byera man who found his 76-year-old mother’s decomposing body days after she was last seen alive says he believes she was raped and killed.
Freddie Peters, 53, the eldest child of Evita Dublin, both of Byera, found his mother’s body during a search of an uninhabited area of the community Wednesday afternoon.
He said he and other relatives and villagers mounted the search after his youngest brother, Cadwell Peters – with whom their mother lived — told him Tuesday night that he had not seen Dublin since Monday.
During an interview at his home on Thursday, Freddie speculated about how his mother might have met her death.
“A post mortem go (will) prove that she was raped and killed,” he told iWitness News, adding that he came to this conclusion, “Because of the way she dressed, the way that we met her; it gives you that impression.”
He said his mother was found wearing only her underwear and her body was wedged between two trumpet trees on the Mt William Estate — about a quarter mile away from her home.
Freddie said that Cadwell had come to his house Tuesday night saying that their mother had not slept at home the previous night and that the last time he had seen her was Monday.
Cadwell, speaking to iWitness News separately on Thursday, said that he thought his mother had gone to Stubbs for therapy and was staying with some relatives there.
Freddie, who, unlike Cadwell, has the contact number for their relatives in Stubbs, telephoned them and learnt that his mother was not there and was not due to visit until later in August.
So, around 7 a.m. Wednesday, the brothers mobilised villagers and mounted a search party and combed through an area where their mother and other farmers take their animals to graze.
That search did not turn up anything, so they returned home and Freddie went to the police to lodge a report.
The police decided to dispatch other officers to help them, but the officers had to come from another station, Freddie told iWitness News.
He said he told the police that he could not wait and was going home to eat then continue the search, along with other villagers.
Freddie told iWitness News that they divided into groups, each of which was assigned to search a different area.
He said that while searching, he began to smell a foul scent.
“So, when I bend down to a certain distance, I saw a bag. I say, ‘Oh God, they kill my mother,” he said.
Freddie told iWitness News that the bag was a nylon sack that contained bush that his mother had apparently harvested for her animals, as was her habit.
He said that after seeing the bag, he saw the cutlass, and his fears deepened that the worst had happened.
“I said, no, they killed my mother. I had to go around some bushes so when I go around and was coming back down in the area, I saw her,” he said.
Freddie said that when he actually saw his mother’s body, he was “at a loss”.
“I was deeply troubled, but I believe that the Lord gives and the Lord takes,” said the grieving man, who is filling in as pastor of his church, Bethel the House of God.
Freddie remembers Dublin as “a good mother”.
“She was a hard-working woman, even at that age. She is a generous person. I think that from Fancy to Chateaubelair, who might come in contact with her could bear witness of what I am saying about this lady.”
He said that he draws strength from his Christian faith.
“The Bible says that the Lord repented that he ever made man because the heart of man is deceitful and desperately wicked that if you give your heart to certain thinking and thoughts, then that is what you become.
“If you give your heart to the right thinking, then the right thoughts come to you that give you peace and joy, but if you give your heart to evil, the devil himself would possess you,” Freddie told iWitness News.
Meanwhile, Cadwell could hardly contain his grief at the loss of his mother.
He said that while he had thought that his mother had gone to Stubbs, his mind kept bothering him on Tuesday, hence his informing his elder brother that he was uncertain about his mother’s whereabouts.
“I feel real bad man. I feel so sad,” the 44-year-old man said in tears.
More rape, murder, robbery. Is this what Saint Vincent is becoming known for? We do not produce any products, not even banana anymore. Chocolate and anything else is so bogged-down with our heavy taxes and high cost of labour and production that they will never become world-renowned. We can never compete with other countries that can do things much cheaper. We have to do something else rather than to continue the trend of ever-increasing crime and joblessness. Those that blame all our problems on the attitude of our people have to ask themselves “How do we change this bad attitude, and who is responsible to initiate the change?” I believe the churches are doing thier job but the government is not. The government has to stop squeezing the people of all the hard-earned fruits of thier labour to the point that it does not pay to do anything except go on poor relief and engage in illicit activities. Yes! “idle hands seem to be the devil’s workshop. society in Saint Vincent proves this. Why do we attack Godwin Friday for wanting to change this environment?
Shame on you for playing politics with this tragic event.
The statement is alluding to the spiral into a realm where tugs and criminals have become the ruling class.This(chaos) only came about over the last decade, as the current authorities ceded control…This is not politicization, but mere observations!
My sincere and heartfelt condolences to this family, friends, relatives and the community of Byera. She was a very descent, sincere and hardworking woman. I have known her and her children since I was a boy.
I trust and hope that the criminal(s) who committed this horrendous act shall be brought to justice and be prosecuted to the fullest length of the law.
May her soul rest in eternal peace!
Ricardo Francis, Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines in Waiting and in the Making
Mr Jerry George, a ULP propagandist, sounding strange. “St Lucia Star, the country has recorded (50) homicides in 2017. In 2011, (52) were recorded.” Hold on, not finished, Looking at the Bahamas. “According to The Nassau Guardian’s records. There have been (123) murders for the year. In 2016, (111) were recorded.” Heading across to St . Kitts and Nevis (WINN): “There were (23) recorded murder/ manslaughter cases in 2017, compared to 31 in 2016 and 28 in 2015”.
What is the crime plan for SVG Mr PM
Only God could help SVG now, because it seems our leaders are visionless, policyless, and leaderless.
My condolence to members of this family.
Deepest sympathy to her sons and other family members and friends. A wicked and merciless person(s) did this horrible act. God did not take this lady, as if her time to die came. Job 34:10, 12. No. The killer(s) allowed themselves to be influenced by the cruel Devil to commit such a heinous act. Revelation 12:12.