A boy was last evening still in police custody over the horrific murder of Kavita Panday whose body was found in a trench at the back of Block D Bath Settlement, West Coast Berbice on Monday.
Panday, was a second former at the Number 11, Secondary School.
Police said in a release yesterday the teen was found floating in a canal around 2:30 pm on Monday and she was last seen alive around 1 pm in the company of a male riding towards her parents’ farm on the canal embankment.
A search for her was carried out sometime later after she had not returned home and her battered body was found in the canal. It is believed that the girl may have been raped before she was killed.
The police are awaiting the results of a post-mortem which could be performed today.
Stabroek News understands that the suspect said to be 14-years-old had what appeared to be scratch marks on the neck when he was held by the police.
The quiet community was still in shock yesterday and many gathered at the dead girl’s home to offer support to her parents and two siblings.
As a result of the trauma, the girl’s mother had to seek treatment at the Fort Welling-ton Hospital twice.
The area when Panday’s body was found is about a five-minute bicycle ride from her home and it is a desolate area. There are no houses in close proximity to the farming plots. Several villagers in the community used that area to plant vegetables on a small scale.
Fighting back tears, her father Rajesh said that he began farming on the plot of land about six months ago and usually he and his wife would tend to the plants.
He said that on Monday, his wife Claudette left the home for a friend’s house nearby and she warned Kavita that if she saw cows in their plot she should call her immediately and not go to the area alone.
The teen however did not heed her mother’s admonition as when she saw the cows on the plot she borrowed a neighbour’s bicycle and went to the area.
Rajesh recounted that his wife later saw the girl heading into the plot with the suspect from the back of the house she was at.
Some time elapsed, he said and the neighbour needed his bicycle to run an errand and after the child did not return he went to the area and collected it. It was lying at the side of the road.
The grieving father told Stabroek News that his wife became worried after the child failed to return home and she decided to go in search of her.
He said that the suspect’s parents operate a farm not far from his and as his wife approached the area she noticed the boy bathing near the trench. She said that as she neared her plot the lad met her and she asked if he had seen Kavita but he responded in the negative.
The two subsequently went to the plot to search for the girl and according to Rajesh the boy immediately went to a clump of bushes outside the fencing and pointed to Panday’s slippers and hat.
An alarm was raised and other villagers came out and the child’s body was found in the trench. Rajesh said that the area around her left eye was black and blue and there was a mark on her left side.
He said too that the tights, underwear and skirt she was wearing were at her knees.
“I wuk hard fuh ma children them…I can’t believe that someone did something like this to her. It’s hard for me”, he said fighting back his tears. (Zoisa Fraser)
