The 12 year old girl, who was living with self styled spiritualist Patricia Alves, was yesterday the subject of discussion as her relatives were not sure about what to do about her.

Alves was taken into police custody on Friday to assist them in their investigations into the discovery of a corpse in a shallow grave in the yard of her church premises. The corpse was identified as a woman called `Camille,' believed to have hailed from Anna Regina.

Meanwhile, a number of spiritualists have told Stabroek News that the Second Street shallow grave incident would give spirituality a "bad name." They expressed the opinion that Alves was not practising spiritualism, but spiritism, which they also referred to as iniquity or black magic. 'Obeah,' the umbrella name for religious forms in this country which have their origins in Africa, and which include rituals intended to heal as well as harm, was legalized by the Forbes Burnham administration.

According to a relative, the 12 year old, who is a student of a community high school in the city, was taken by her mother (name provided) in December last year to live with Alves. The child's mother, who is believed to be destitute, was also at the Second Street residence yesterday to see her daughter, but left the area screaming and was picked up by a police vehicle that was in the area.

The girl, whose arms and legs were covered with ulcers, told Stabroek News that she had been taken back to Second Street after she had been taken away by the police and had spent the night there with another `Mother' (name provided).

Eggs

The aunt, who spoke to Stabroek News under conditions of anonymity told this newspaper that the girl had lived in North Ruimveldt prior to being removed by her mother. She said that the family had been unaware that anything was wrong with the child until Friday night, when they had seen her on television being removed from the scene by the police. The aunt said that she had gone down to Second Street shortly afterwards and had seen the child who had told her that she was hungry. She said she had given her some snacks.

She appealed to the authorities to let the country's welfare services remove the child from the Second Street house. But when asked why she would not take the child herself, she said that other family members were afraid that the child would take something evil into the home. She said that she was not living on her own. She said that even the child's father, her brother, was afraid to go to the Second Street house because he had heard about "eggs."

A neighbour, who was one of several persons who reported at the police station that they had seen someone covering earth over a grave in the Second Street yard, told Stabroek News that she had been concerned and disappointed that the police had taken the child back into Second Street instead of taking her to the hospital for treatment and placing her in foster care elsewhere.

She also expressed concern that the police had not continued to guard the premises as members of the church had been seen moving things out of the place.

Processions

Neighbours informed this newspaper that Alves had been living in the area for between 11 and 15 years and had started her church since then. One neighbour recalled that a woman called Carol, her sisters and a brother had lived there. The sisters had migrated and the brother had been left behind. The brother had been involved in a relationship with Alves and after she had moved in with him, he had packed up and left the area.

Residents in the area said that Alves lived in the second house at Lot 14 Second Street and that the church was located in the back house. They said that Alves normally held processions in the area in which her church members took part. Last year, they recalled, she had about two or three processions and there was always a police outrider present. Everyone, they said, had worn a white turban.

Not much information was obtained about 'Camille,' but one neighbour recalled that he had seen her there since November last year. He said that she would normally smile at him when she went outside to pick flowers or hang out clothes.

Peeping through fence

The neighbour told Stabroek News that he too had been a victim of Alves. He claimed that once she had beaten him with a piece of wood as he was going to work. The beating happened after his home had been broken into and foodstuff stolen, and he had later found a decaying chicken in his yard. He had then made a remark that "somebody wukking obeah" in the area and was beaten for this. He had reported the matter to the Alberttown Police Station, but eventually dropped it in frustration after being told to return several times to the station.

On the morning of the discovery of the corpse, he said, a neighbour called him to see what was going on next door. Though he had not been on good terms with any of the neighbours, he nevertheless went. He said that the neighour had been trying to get onto the police station by telephone but to no avail so he and another neighbour walked there. When they arrived, they found that someone else had already made a report and so they accompanied a police inspector, a detective and female police officer back to the scene. Before they entered the yard, they were invited to peep through the neighbour's fence and saw someone stomping on the ground. The police called for additional support and when that arrived, they went into the yard where they unearthed the body. The neighbour said that the police had asked him to help with the digging. He recalled that on entering the yard he had seen Alves wearing a brown dress. Her head had been tied with a cloth and her feet had been bare. She had also been covered in mud.

He recalled that the body of the dead woman, which they unearthed from the shallow grave semi naked, had been fresh. Both her hands and feet were tied, and he had been of the view that she had probably died only that morning.

In the past, he said, Alves had invited him to join the church but he had told her that he was not interested.