Daily Observer (Jamaica)

KILLED ON MOTHER’S DAY

Suspected lovers’ discord leads to death of another young woman

- BY HORACE HINES Observer staff reporter hinesh@jamaicaobs­erver.com

CLARK’S TOWN, Trelawny — Mother of 11, Annette Keeling described yesterday as her worst Mother’s Day ever after learning that her 29year-old daughter Nickiesha Keeling, commonly called Gally, has been hacked to death, allegedly by her jealous common law husband who is more than twice her age.

Reports are that yesterday, about 1:30 am, the 62-year-old alleged machete-wielder was held after he turned up at the Clark’s Town Police Station. Initial reports are that he told the police that he had murdered Keeling at their home in the Parnassus section of Clark’s Town, but this was not confirmed by law enforcers.

The police visited the

scene and found the body with multiple chop wounds, slumped in the house which the common law couple shared.

“This is the worst Mother’s Day gift,” said Annette Keeling, 57. “It better we did know say she meet inna accident and whatsoever,” bemoaned the distraught mother who tried desperatel­y to remain calm.

Like other enraged members of the Parnassus community, the distressed mother believes her daughter’s killing stemmed from jealously on the part of her spouse.

“She is a young girl, she is just 29...she would not be 30 until August coming...so she is a young girl and move around with young men, and he [suspect] is a older man than her, so you know that those things always cause domestic dispute between a older man and a younger girl. So it seems like it is there it leading from. She is jovial and she would go around and talk with men and everyone, [but] we never hear them in any fight, quarrel and anything,” the bereaved mother told reporters.

Christophe­r Jack, a brother of the deceased, said he strongly objected to the relationsh­ip between his sister and the older man since it began when she was a Muschett High School student.

“From day one me talk about it [relationsh­ip] because the man a big man. Me back him out of the yard already and him come and get her pregnant. Him should a go prison from that time. From she a 13year-old him take her out of Muschett High School and she couldn’t get to go to school. Me never like the idea and me a talk to the man and look what him bring come now. Look pon the Mother’s Day present. This a the result the man carry come give us now,” the aggrieved brother argued.

A group of men who massed at the crime scene early yesterday morning contended that had they caught the alleged killer they would have meted out jungle justice.

“Man, is God mek we don’t catch him [suspect] because it would a be a different justice now,” one militant bystander insisted.

Another chimed in: “The boy smart. That is why him do it in unique fashion. Look in the house. Look in the house! A pure blood inside the house.”

The grieving residents pointed to a blood-soaked rope hanging outside the house which they surmised was used to tie up the victim before she was hacked to death. Inside the house the blood, splattered on the walls, floor and bed, were telltale signs of the savagery which had unfolded.

The bereaved mother shared that after hearing of the heinous act she rushed to the scene, but the police barred her from seeing her daughter’s mutilated body.

“The officer tell me seh she get chop in her forehead; her face chop up, chop up; her foot chop and her shoulder stab up. Him (police officer) tell us we couldn’t look, so we just see the body wrapped in the bloody sheet going into the undertaker’s van,” she said, her face etched with grief.

The couple share a sevenyear-old son who was staying with a family member at the time of the gruesome killing.

“If the baby was there him would maybe kill him too,” one resident theorised.

 ??  ?? Nickiesha Keeling, who was chopped to death yesterday.
Nickiesha Keeling, who was chopped to death yesterday.
 ?? (Photos: Philp Lemonte) ?? Residents gather at the crime scene early yesterday morning.
(Photos: Philp Lemonte) Residents gather at the crime scene early yesterday morning.
 ??  ?? Nicoli
Wilson,
7, son of Nickeisha Keeling and her 62-year-old common law husband, is comforted by his grandmothe­r Annette Keeling (right) and aunt Taneisha Malcolm.
Nicoli Wilson, 7, son of Nickeisha Keeling and her 62-year-old common law husband, is comforted by his grandmothe­r Annette Keeling (right) and aunt Taneisha Malcolm.
 ??  ?? ANNETTE KEELING... this is the worst Mother’s Day gift
ANNETTE KEELING... this is the worst Mother’s Day gift
 ??  ?? It’s a time of grief for Nickiesha Keeling’s brother, Christophe­r Jack.
It’s a time of grief for Nickiesha Keeling’s brother, Christophe­r Jack.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Jamaica