Self-styled spiritualist Patricia Alves has been charged with the murder of Camille Seenauth, the woman whose body was dug up by police from a shallow grave in Alves' yard on Friday.

Alves, whose body-beating therapy and other escapades grabbed headlines this week made her first appearance in court yesterday and was remanded to prison by acting Chief Magistrate, Juliet Holder-Allen, who read the capital charge to her.

A large noise in the courtyard announced Alves' arrival and she sailed into the courtroom amidst a media frenzy, followed by a large vociferous crowd.

Before appearing in court Alves, who is also known as `Mother Patsy', was reportedly placed in a cell all by herself because other prisoners had indicated that they did not want to be with her.

Dressed in a green suit with gold trim and her hair neatly corn-rowed, Alves made her way into the court escorted by a policewoman and another woman dressed in a khaki outfit. It was the same outfit Alves had appeared in when she was before the court on another charge.

Looking calm and composed, Alves was placed to sit on the prisoner's bench behind the media representatives' bench and she immediately struck up an intense conversation with another female prisoner who was on the bench.

By this time the courtroom was packed and still persons kept streaming in, asking, "whe she deh? whe she deh?" referring to Alves.

The policewoman did a good job of not allowing anyone to have access to Alves while she was waiting for her case to be called. Then among the curious, and some friends and followers came a woman, who persons said was a relative of the 12-year-old girl who had been found bruised and sick in Alves yard after the discovery of the body. The woman tried to approach Alves, but was restrained by the policewoman, who had earlier stopped her from using a back entrance to the court. She then proceeded to make a scene, stripping off her clothes, saying "don't touch meh ah feelin' hot." She was eventually persuaded to leave the court.

At this time the magistrate who had taken an adjournment to wait for new cases, entered the packed courtroom, followed by a large number of female court staffers. The magistrate dealt with the first matter since her adjournment, but no one paid attention, as all eyes were on Alves.

With the gate leading in to the well of the court closed, the orderly called the name Patricia Alves and she rose. She was asked to stand in the docks as the magistrate read the charge to her.

However, when the magistrate began to read the charge she noticed that something was wrong and as a result returned the jacket to the investigating officer and told the accused to have a seat. At this point some persons in the court jokingly commented that Alves was "working her power" to change the capital offence to a bailable offence.

With the correction made, the magistrate read the charge: "Patricia Alves you are charged with the capital offence of murder. That is to say that some time between Thursday, February 14, and Friday, February 15, 2002 you murdered Camille Seenauth. The charge is an indictable charge and you are not allowed to plead."

Seenauth's body was found on February 15 buried in a shallow grave at the back of Alves' Second Street Alberttown home.

The magistrate then asked the prosecution about its course of action. The police prosecutor then indicated that they would like three weeks for another court appearance. Alves was remanded to prison and will return to court on March 21, 2002.

The defendant then left the courtroom through the chute, prompting most of the people in court to follow her. She was placed in the regular holding cell and then transferred to the cell she was in before.

At the end of the case, Senior Counsel Bernard De Santos who was in court for another matter indicated to the magistrate that she had had a lot of bodyguards, referring to the court employees standing behind her. "I was just saying that that is a big body for all those guards," he said. This prompted the magistrate to say, "bodyguards, no, they just plain fast."

When Alves was placed in the cell, a large crowd stood on the court's stairway and even as they were ordered to remove by the police they refused saying they had to get a glimpse of the "obeah woman." Eventually a path was cleared and Alves, with two female police officers on either side, was quickly taken into the white police van which was parked in the courtyard. The crowd in the yard and out on the road swarmed the vehicle, hitting the sides and shouting accusations. Some of them even rocked the vehicle and had to be restrained by police officers. Within a few seconds the vehicle was out of sight and the crowd was left discussing their feelings on the morning's events.

A woman was overheard saying that "she [Alves] didn't send and call anyone, they went to her." A man expressed annoyance that a photographer had apparently snapped a shot of one of Alves' followers while he was standing nearby. He said he hoped the photo was not carried, as he didn't want to be associated with "that sort of thing."

And another man, who apparently turned up at the court to catch a glimpse of Alves, got a scare of his life when word went around that he was an elder of Alves' church. A large crowd rushed towards him and video cameras were pointed at him, as persons in the crowd threw crude slurs in his direction. The man vehemently denied that he was associated with Alves' church and literally begged persons to leave him alone.

Another man, who was dressed in a black, was accused of being Alves' nephew. The crowd also molested him, but after he denied the charges, he was left alone.

Stabroek News was told that early yesterday morning some of Alves' followers were at the court "doing the work" (casting a spell). However, upon noticing eggs and flowers all around the entrance of the court, the cleaners got busy and cleaned the entire courtyard.

Meanwhile, the acting chief magistrate expressed annoyance at a story carried in yesterday's edition of the Kaieteur News about whether she had any qualms about handling the Alves case. The magistrate said she never knew the reporter was speaking to her to get a story; she was under the impression that she and the reporter were having a casual conversation. The magistrate stated that at no time had the reporter indicated that he was doing an interview.