Police have brought a murder charge in the case in which Lyda Adams aka Sherika, 36, of Keartons, Barrouallie, has not been seen since she left her home on Nov. 8, saying she was going to the doctor.
Adams had a 9-year-old son and was six months pregnant at the time of disappearance.
A relative told iWitness News earlier this month that she might have said that she was going to the doctor to mask her plan to travel to Bequia to meet a man with whom she was involved in a “toxic relationship”.
iWitness News understands that police have brought a murder charge against that man, a resident of Byera who works in Bequia.
The murder charge suggests that police believe that Adams is dead, although investigators have not recovered a body.
The accused is expected to appear before a magistrate in Kingstown on Thursday.
The relative who spoke to iWitness News earlier this month said that Adams was last seen in Barrouallie when she greeted another relative on Nov. 8, telling them she was going to visit the doctor.
She was wearing a brown top and deep green pants when she left her home in the Central Leeward town before 7 a.m.
The relative said they had been arguing with Adams recently because of the “toxic relationship” she had with the man, so she stopped complaining to them about problems in the relationship.
They speculated that this is why Adams said she was going to the doctor.
However, footage from a ferry showed her disembarking in Bequia around 8:56 a.m. that same day.
That was the last time that any of Adams’ relatives heard from her, and messages to her WhatsApp account went undelivered, further raising suspicions.
The relative said that Adams is the kind of person who posts a lot on social media, but there had not been any posts from her since she left her home on Nov. 8.
Additionally, one of Adams’ relatives was buried in Barrouallie on Nov. 23 and she did not attend the funeral, which her family said was an especially unusual thing for her to have done.
Adams also did not vote in the Nov. 27 general election, a relative said, adding that when they (the relatives) went to cast their ballot around 4 p.m., Adams’ name was still on the list as having not voted.
The relatives had expressed concern about the police’s initial handling of the case. However, the matter was elevated and placed in the hands of the Major Crime Unit, which investigates homicides and other serious crimes.
Two other women murdered
The murder charge comes even as police are investigating the killing of two other women in St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) since November.
On Nov. 28, around 7:45 a.m., as residents of Layou and the rest of SVG were processing the result of the general election, Mitah Patterson, 34, of Texier Road, was gunned down as she was talking in the street with another woman.
Reports are that an assailant opened fire, injuring Patterson who began to run. However, the attacker pursued her and shot and killed her while the other woman fled.
Residents of the Central Leeward town have speculated that the killing is linked to several shooting deaths and injuries in Layou over the last few years.
The woman who escaped the shooting had been the target of a gun attack that she was able to escape by fleeing into a church a Sunday morning some months ago.
That woman is the mother of a man who was shot and killed in Layou two years earlier, while another of her sons was shot and injured in the town in 2018.
Then, on Dec. 1, about 11:45 p.m., the body of Neisha Frederick, a 41-year-old sanitation worker, of Ottley Hall, was found near a church in the West Kingstown community.
Residents had heard several gunshots in the community earlier, but did not know that the woman, a mother of five, had been the target.
The homicide count in SVG this year now stands at 39.
The NDP must, urgently, do something about the number of illegal guns on the streets in SVG. I’m scared of going to SVG for a vacation; I might unfortunately meet my end, whether it is from a stray bullet or from an armed robbery.
I understand that a body has not been discovered. So, did someone confess to killing the missing pregnant wonan? Or did someone witness a person killing the missing pregnant woman? Who is being charged? A charge has to be laid against someone.
If the police want to properly investigate the motives for these murders in Layou or of people connected to Layou going back years now, they should start with the 2008 paid assassination of lawyer Bertram Stapleton.
Sad
I believe the policemen and women need updated training to meet, beat and reduce the crime issues in the Island. I am sure the NDP can ask for help from the UK, Canada and even the US. These nations can train the police to investigate crimes but utilizing AI and dogs.
There are new technologies to find people by zeroing on their cell phones. Then there are well trained dogs that can find objects and human bodies buried anywhere.
The police must talk to anyone who saw the woman travelled to Bequia. They can track her movement when she got to Bequia by asking people at the wharf and close to where her boy friend lives.
I also believe that NDP should and must send out a warning to people with gun to “bring them in, or they would come for them”. The penalty for unlicensed guns should be increased to 10 years. There should also be raids by police with warrants to properties to look for these items. Anyone living in a home where a gun is found should be questioned seriously and can and should be even charged for harbouring someone and gun on the property. I am sure no one will want o bring a gun in their parents’ home to jailed.
Some people in the communities have news about what’s happening there, but they don’t pass that information to the police. The police are strangers in these communities because they are not trusted. There has to be a way where the police become part of the community.
I suggested to Leacock and Friday at a meeting in Layou several years ago; that they should think seriously about bringing back town and village councils. These outfits can be volunteers who want to serve their community without looking for money.
I believe Straker had several laypersons in Layou who played a role in some legal issues. I have no idea if they were paid, but this system can play a role in getting responsible people being selected in the communities.
Let the folks apply to serve on the board and then put their names out so that the community can make the choice of the folks they trust.
There can also be a police presence at the meetings to record anything of interest to them. This is where issues can be passed on to the police for investigation.
C.Ben-David with respect to murders in layou. C.Ben-David dobu have so information?