Alleged `spiritual healing' tragedy
Widower says wife's death due to `foolishness'
by Jaime Hall
Guyana Chronicle
June 20, 2004
`I would really like to get down to the bottom of this matter to let every thing come to light. She had no demon when she fall ill with nervous breakdowns. While I was here, I pull her through it and she was well again,' Husband of Faye Grenville
` All we does hear is like when you beating somebody... and Faye does be crying like when you beating a child. This noise does be really disturbing, Every day you could hear her voice getting weaker and weaker until we hear nothing more... Then at the end, a car pull up and reverse in the yard the morning and went away'. Wismar resident
FAYE Grenville's husband, who flew in from Barbados last week, is of the opinion that his wife's death was as a result of a combination of fatigue, stress and "foolishness", but wants to get to the "bottom of this matter".
Grenville, 43, of Danjoo Hill, Wismar, was pronounced dead Monday on arrival at the McKenzie Hospital after members of the Holy Ghost Ground Church at Cholmondeley Hill took her there. She had spent a number of days in the care of the self-styled spiritual healers of the church.
Relatives said the woman fell ill two Sundays ago and church members persuaded her to remain in their care since they said evil spirits had possessed her.
A neighbour who knew that Grenville was mentally ill said he told the church members that she should be taken to the hospital for medical attention, but his suggestion almost led to a confrontation between him and the church members. He said he left the yard after a bucket of water was thrown at him.
Faye Grenville and her two daughters, Alicia and Althea.
Relatives said Grenville had suffered from nervous breakdowns for many years and was usually taken to hospital for medical attention. When she took ill two Sundays ago, she was at home with her 15-year-old daughter who usually lives with her. Her husband was at the time in Barbados where he works. He arrived in the country shortly after he got news of his wife's death.
A hospital source said the woman died of dehydration and there were marks of violence on her body. A relative who went to identify the body at the McKenzie Hospital morgue confirmed that there were marks of violence on her feet and hands.
"I would really like to get down to the bottom of this matter to let every thing come to light. She had no demon when she fall ill with nervous breakdowns. While I was here, I pull her through it and she was well again," the man told the Sunday Chronicle,
He said yesterday that his wife's demise was due to "foolishness". The man who knew her for 27 years said that while he has no problem with people praying for his wife because of her illness, the persons who had her in their care should have taken her for medical attention.
The husband believed that it was a clear case of fatigue from stress and maybe other things she had to deal with while with the church members that led to her death.
When the woman was taken into the care of her fellow church members, relatives and other people in the neighbourhood were very concerned about her having to stay at the church building.
The Holy Ghost Ground Church building is an incomplete concrete structure that has no proper ventilation and, according to people living nearby, is "inadequately built to keep any sick person".
Another source close to the Grenvilles, told the Chronicle that the church members tried to keep everyone who inquired about the woman's condition, in the dark.
"Sometimes the church people would tell the daughter that she mother deh at Wisroc"- a housing area about two miles away from where the church is located.
However, people in the area believed otherwise. Several persons in the neighbourhood complained about unusual noises coming from the church building during the day and also late at nights, to a point that those living close to the church could not sleep.
"All we does hear is like when you beating somebody... and Faye does be crying like when you beating a child. This noise does be really disturbing," a Cholmondeley Hill resident recounted.
She continued: "We had to be curious about what was happening because we know she was there. Every day you could hear her voice getting weaker and weaker until we hear nothing more... Then at the end, a car pull up and reverse in the yard the ...morning and went away". The resident said she believe it was Grenville's body the car took away.
Following Grenville's death, police at Linden had detained three women for questioning. One was the Pastor of the Holy Ghost Ground Church. But no one has been charged. Police removed from the church, a mattress, persons believed Grenville had been lying on while in the building. They also took away a number of utensils.
Her body was handed over to the Police and was taken Georgetown for the post mortem examination. It is currently at Sandy's Funeral Home, the relative said.
A post mortem examination is due to be conducted tomorrow.
Grenville is to be buried on Tuesday at Linden, relatives said.