Woman’s body with wound found behind Bedford church

The decomposing body of a woman with a wound to the neck was last evening found aback of the Bedford Methodist Church at Camp Street and North Road.

The woman was up to press time unidentified but persons who viewed the body said that she was a destitute person who hung around Saffon Street and other parts of the city. She was clad in a red top and a black three quarter pants. A pair of slippers was found about 30 feet from the body.

Police said yesterday that an improvised smoking utensil was found near the body. This newspaper was also told that there were visible wounds to the jaw and wrist. It was noted too that her legs were stained with what appeared to be blood.

The body is at the Lyken’s Funeral Home awaiting identification and a post-mortem examination.

A resident of the area recounted hearing screams early Tuesday morning and later seeing a man scaling the church fence. The man said that later when he looked in the area where he had heard the screams, he saw “a red thing but me ain’t see no movements so me ain’t dig nothing”. He said he later asked a man in the area if he heard anything.

He said he explained to the man that while he was watching cricket he heard what sounded like a woman screaming but when he looked he saw no one. Later he saw a man jumping over the fence.

According to the man, the person he had approached said he too had seen a “tall man” jumping over the fence.

Stabroek News understands that persons who were waiting on transportation on North Road, found the body around 6 pm. One woman explained that a vendor who was dropped off at that spot with her goods on Tuesday saw something red in the grass but paid little attention to it. It was when the woman returned to the area yesterday and saw the red object in the same spot that she became suspicious. A man went to investigate what the red object was and stumbled on the body. The police were immediately notified.

When Stabroek News left the scene, police ranks were still conducting investigations.