Child drama in shallow grave murder case
Guyana Chronicle
February 17, 2002


`I frighten to go in the yard. It full a evil, but I would glad if somebody could help me to get she in a home somewhere else' - Junan Soloman, aunt of 12-year-old Engozi Henry
A 12-YEAR-OLD girl emerged in the drama centred on the house of a reputed `spiritual healer' as Police yesterday continued investigations into the shallow grave murder case unearthed in the city Friday.

The Chronicle understands investigators have been combing the yard at 15 Second Street, Alberttown, to see if more bodies were buried there after the body of a young woman was found in a shallow grave early Friday morning.

The murdered woman has been identified as Camille Seenauth, 32, of Charity, Pomeroon, Essequibo Coast.

She was wearing a wedding band and her body had marks of violence. There were bruises on the hands and feet, and indications that she might have been sexually molested as well, Police said.

Shortly after the discovery of the body, Police arrested Pamela Alves, also known as Patricia Grenville, 41, a reputed `spiritual healer' of 15 Second Street Alberttown.

As Police yesterday continued questioning Alves about the killing, worried relatives of a 12-year-old girl still in the spiritual healer's house, said they wanted to get her out of there.

They said they are concerned about the safety of Engozi Henry who is reportedly ill but are afraid to remove her from the house.

"I frighten to go in the yard. It full a evil, but I would glad if somebody could help me to get she in a home somewhere else", her aunt Junan Soloman told the Chronicle yesterday.

The child was up to yesterday in the house. Her aunt said Engozi's now destitute mother Cheryl Henry, around December 15 last year, took the girl to Alves to be taken care of.

The aunt said Engozi is malnourished, suffering from an injured knee and is in need of medical attention. She said she would like the child to be removed from Alves' home but, like the girl's father Orin Soloman, a security guard at Demerara Distilleries Limited, she too is afraid to enter the yard.

The Chronicle understands Alves has told Police that Engozi is her adopted daughter.

A neighbour reported that the child is usually abused and said she would like to see urgent action taken for her safety.

"I'm sorry for the child, I thought she might a dead in deh...(she got) a severe trashing every day and (she was starved); and that sick child does got to scrub from the gate right into the yard", she said.

Around mid-morning yesterday, Soloman went to visit Engozi but was only able to make contact with her after a neighbour allowed her into the top flat of her house from where she was able to speak to the child through the kitchen window.

The girl, siting on a bench under Alves' house near the shallow grave with her hands folded across her knees, told her aunt she was hungry and had nothing to eat.

When her aunt asked Engozi to meet her at the gate to the yard to collect money she had brought for her to buy food, she seemed very hesitant.

However, the child was eventually persuaded, went to meet her aunt at the gate and collected a bottle of orange juice and pastries bought for her at a shop nearby.

Engozi is thin and frail looking, and the right knee is swollen.

Soloman wept when she saw the condition of her niece.

Police who swooped on the yard and unearthed the body of Seenauth following a tip-off, also took away a quantity of eggs found soaked in liquid in containers, a large black bag and other utensils from Alves' house.

Seenauth reportedly hailed from Trybest, Lower Pomeroon, in Region Two, (Pomeroon/Supenaam). She lived too at Charity and at Franton Street, Anna Regina before migrating to the city about a year ago, sources said.

They said she was involved in an accident, had suffered head injuries and was a patient at the Georgetown Public Hospital, and upon her discharge began visiting Alves before eventually living there.

An elderly woman living nearby said she reported to the Police after she was informed that a body was being buried in the yard.

"...when I get a call from the neighbour close to her, she told me that (someone was) burying a woman at the back. I said, `You certain'?

"When the woman come out to me, the woman come in fear...and I try to buzz the Police (by telephone) but the line was busy. So I stop a car and jump in which took me to the Alberttown Police Station", the anguished neighbour recounted.

As investigators moved through the yard Friday, a large crowd gathered outside and many were upset at the news of the shallow grave murder.

Many shouted angrily as Police escorted Alves to a vehicle and as it drove off several stormed it in an attempt to hit her.

Neighbours yesterday recalled that the spiritual healer had long held noisy sessions at her house.

They said the congregation was sometimes between 20 to 30 persons and there would be loud drumming, metal objects were hit against the zinc fence, with sustained screaming from subjects being severely beaten.

Incense was usually burnt and the heavy smell would be dense in the neighbourhood for long periods, they said. (JAIME HALL)