-hunt on for passenger
Just before midnight on Monday the partially nude body of a woman was discovered at Foulmouth; just above Makouria on the Essequibo River.
Patricia Williams of Far Rock; was found dead on Monday night shortly after giving a group of men a ride to Foulmouth. A suspect said to be hiding in the area is wanted by police.
Police in a press statement yesterday said they are “investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of boat service operator Patricia Williams, 50, whose body was found partly submerged in the Essequibo River at Foulmouth, Essequibo River at about” 11.30pm on Monday.
Initial investigations, according to police, revealed that Williams had transported a group of men from Bartica to Foulmouth (a five mile journey) earlier that day. A relative, police said, subsequently saw Williams’ boat drifting, and after a search found her body partly in the river. The man suspected of murdering Williams is currently hiding in the area and is being sought by police.
The body was transported to Georgetown where a post-mortem will be done.
Stabroek News learnt from a police source yesterday that only the top half of the woman’s body was clothed. Her pants and underclothes were discovered, a short distance from the body, at the Foulmouth landing. Marks around Williams’ neck, the source said, suggested she may have been strangled.
A Foulmouth resident, who requested anonymity, told this newspaper that Williams was also employed as a security guard. The deceased, the resident said, lived at Far Rock, a small island about 10 minutes away from Foulmouth via boat.
The resident, who knew Williams and has spoken with her relatives since the incident, said they had learnt that the woman was transporting a group of men, which included one of her brothers, from Bartica.
“Her brother told me that she drop them off and the last man in the boat was coming out farther along so he last was left in the boat with she [Williams],” the resident said. “Like she go to drop him [the suspect] off at the Foulmouth landing and is there he attack she.”
Some time around 11pm Monday, the resident said, Williams’ brother and several other residents heard several screams coming from the direction of the Foulmouth landing.
“She [Williams] brother ain’t live too far away from the landing and he heard the screams and by the time he get there to investigate he found her body a short way from the landing in some bushes by the water,” the resident said. “Another woman also heard the screams but said she dismissed it as drunk people making a nuisance of themselves.”
The perpetrator had already disappeared by the time Williams’ brother made it to the landing. Her brother, according to the resident, immediately informed police. The body was removed some time before 9am yesterday.
“I went down to the area lil before the police come to move the body,” the resident related, “and I saw her pants and underwear on the landing and she was only wearing her top…the only marks I see on her body was around her neck area.”
This newspaper further understands that Williams was familiar with her attacker since the man, said to be in his 20s, has lived on Foulmouth for a number of years.
Williams’ death has shocked the Foulmouth community and many residents fear the suspect is still hiding somewhere in the vicinity.
“Right now everybody afraid,” the resident said. “We know that he [the suspect] still on the island because the only way to get off is by boat…right now everybody watching their boat tonight [last night] just in case he try to steal one.”
A report that the attacker is armed with a “crowbar” has spread throughout Foulmouth.
“We hear say he got a crow bar and we not taking any chances,” the resident said.
Meanwhile, the resident said the suspect had appeared before a court about three years ago charged with a sexual offence. The man, according to them, was living with an uncle and is a “known character” in the area.
“Since the police come and move the body this morning [yesterday] they haven’t come back,” the resident said. “I don’t know if they expect the woman’s family to look for him [the suspect].”
Up to press time last night the perpetrator was still on the run.
Several efforts made to contact Williams’ relatives via telephone were futile. Her husband, the resident said, is currently in “the bush” mining gold. (Sara Bharrat and Zoisa Fraser)
