Family says row had reached court
A Trelawny man is in police custody, after he was held in connection with the alleged murder of his mother in Stewart Town in the parish on Thursday, August 28.
Dead is 67-year-old farmer and vendor, Sereica Palmer of Stewart Town, Trelawny. The elderly woman was found floating in the popular Darnack River in Stewart Town. The river is used by almost everyone in the community, and several recreational activities take place there. People also go there to wash, cook, play and farm alongside the banks.
It is reported that Palmer was seen floating in the river by another farmer. She was found with chop wounds to her head, hands, back and several bruises to different sections of her body. It is alleged that the elderly woman was killed and thrown into the river.
Family members say about 6 a.m., on Thursday, August 28, Palmer who is the breadwinner of the family went down by the river near to her farm. Her daughter, Coretta Palmer says her mother left home early that morning as she usually did, to tend to and reap crops from her farm. That morning, the elderly woman left to harvest some bananas. “Every morning, Mama leaves the house and go to her farm. She grows bananas, yams, plantains, and she raises animals,” Coretta said.
The family became suspicious after Mrs Palmer did not return home at her usual time at about 7a.m. “I went searching for her because this was unlike her to stay longer than an hour,” said Coretta.
MAMA’S DOG
Coretta said when she went down by the river to search; there were no signs of her mother. She began to panic because calls for ‘Mama’ went unanswered. While searching, about two hours later, Coretta said she heard one of their dogs barking. The dog usually accompanied Mrs Palmer to the farm. The dog she said had a wound on one of his legs. He was barking frantically and looking at the river as if something had gone wrong, Coretta explained. Coretta said she saw traces of blood and then she panicked and alerted the police. “When I saw the blood, I started screaming so I ran back up to the house and called the police.”
Coretta said her brother; the man now held for the murder, ran down by the river and started searching as well. At about 12:30pm, the family got a call that a body was seen floating in the river about a mile from Ms Palmer’s farm.
Upon the arrival of the police and family members, it was discovered that it was the body of Sereica Palmer. It is reported that police immediately arrested the son of the 67-year-old woman, with whom he allegedly has had a long standing dispute. The dispute had reached the courts.
COURT DATE
When the Times visited the family, they were at a medical centre in Brown’s Town, St Ann. They had brought their 73-year-old father (Sereica’s husband) to the doctor. He is still grieving from the tragic loss of his wife. The elderly man, Dennis Palmer has been ill for several years and his wife has been the breadwinner of the family. The family says she is in charge of the land, businesses and farm. She operates on the farm on a daily basis and sells ground provision on the weekend at the Brown’s Town Market. She also rears pigs, goats and chickens. Mr Palmer who was also a farmer before he got ill, has taken the news of his wife’s death really hard. He was taken to the doctor to check on his failing health.
As the family tries to come to grips with the death, they are questioning whether the death of their beloved ‘Mama’ stemmed from an ongoing family dispute. The son who was taken into custody reportedly had a court date for Monday, September 1, after his mother (now deceased), reported him to police after he allegedly threatened to kill her in July.
That court case reportedly stemmed from a confrontation between Mrs Palmer and her son on July 28 when he demanded the keys to a truck in the yard. Reports are that Mrs Palmer refused to hand them over and her son took them anyway but then he issued threats.
Residents as well as family members reportedly saw the man coming from the river with a bag of bananas, the same morning his mother was killed. The man is still being questioned by the Trelawny police. Up to the weekend he had not been charged in relation to the killing.
Meanwhile, vendors at the Brown’s Town Market says Mrs Palmer will be missed because she was jovial, supportive and brought smiles to the faces of her colleagues. “She made all of us laugh because she was not troubled by hardships or anything else,” Barbara, a vendor and friend said.
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