ENGINE OIL THROWN ON MURDERED GIRL’S BODY TO KEEP DOWN THE SCENT

Little One’ found in shallow grave

The barking of dogs fighting over a bloodied brassiere led a search party to the gruesome discovery of the decomposing body of 20-year-old Petrice Porteous on Sunday. She had gone missing some two weeks earlier.

Porteous, affectionately called Little One’, of Mount Peace district in Hanover, went missing on February 13. Following days of searching by the police, family members and residents, her body was found in a shallow grave in the neighbouring community of Kew Top.

Reports indicate that Miss Porteous, who was the mother of a three-year-old daughter and who worked at a call centre in Sandy Bay, was last seen after leaving home for work on February 13. Her twin sister Patrice said she last spoke to her sister that day.

“She called me and asked if I had reached home and I told her ‘no’, and she mentioned that she was at work. I told her that it did not sound like she was at work, but like she was in a car and she hissed her teeth and hung up the phone,” Patrice explained.

Patrice said when she got home, she made several calls to her sister but got no reply. She regarded this as strange, as Petrice always wanted to speak with her daughter. However, the twin sister said she later received a call from her cousin indicating that Petrice was at her house.

“My cousin told me she came to the house and later she received a call saying her driver had come so she (Petrice) would speak to her and she left. We did not see her nor hear from her since that time,” she said.

Having failed to make contact with Petrice up to late Friday night, a search party was arranged by relatives on Saturday but after hours of searching, she was not found.

It was the yelps of dogs on Sunday which alerted residents to the discovery of Petrice’s body. The dogs were fighting over a bloodied brassiere.

NOT A GOOD SIGHT

“The police called us to identify her shoes, which were also on the scene and when we saw the body, she was wearing the same clothes she went missing in. It was not a good sight,” Patrice said.

The woman’ father, Adolphus Porteous, questioned why someone would do this to his daughter.

“She and her twin sister are my last children; they are wonderful girls. Petrice was a loving daughter; I don’t know of her doing anything bad to anybody. Whosoever do this to her is so wicked. Why dem have to do this to make me feel this way right now?” he lamented.

The crime scene drew scores of persons, many of whom cried openly. They described Petrice as a quiet, hardworking woman, who loved her young child endlessly.

One woman told the Western Mirror, “A wickedness this; the girl don’t even talk loud, she only goes from work to home. God not sleeping, no sin goes unpunished.”

A police source said it would appear that Petrice was killed elsewhere and her body buried at the location. Also, a black substance resembling engine oil was believed to have been thrown on the body by her killer(s), presumably to keep down the scent.

A mother and son have since been taken into custody as the Hanover police seek to unravel the mystery surrounding the death. The son is said to have been the deceased’s boyfriend