Vicious

An eight-year-old boy missed out on Sunday’s Mother’s Day celebration after his 29-year-old mom was hacked to death overnight in a suspected case of jealous rage by her elderly common-law partner in Clark’s Town, Trelawny.

When lawmen accompanied the 62-year-old accused to the one-bedroom death house in Parnassus, also in Clark’s Town, it was a ghastly scene of the bloody violence that had unfolded hours earlier, with the partially nude body of Nickeisha Keeling in a pool of blood with several chop wounds.

The accused, whose name is being withheld because he has not been charged yet, reportedly turned up at the Clark’s Town Police Station and told cops on duty that he had slain Keeling because she had cheated on him.

Sunday’s killing has again put scrutiny on the issue of domestic violence, particularly gender-based crimes that have ended in women being the casualties of fatal attacks.

Outrage has grown in recent weeks in the wake of an assault scandal that caused Westmoreland Central Member of Parliament George Wright to take a leave of absence after failing to confirm or deny that he was the subject of a viral video pummelling a woman with his fist and a stool.

Keeling’s partner reportedly told the police that Keeling had regularly been calling or sending text messages to other men.

Residents of Parnassus said that they had been playing dominoes outside of the couple’s home on Saturday night and were stunned to awaken to the predawn news of the construction worker’s brutal death.

“Mi cah believe seh we deh right yah so whole night and we nuh hear nutten. It look like him kill har inna di house from about 11:30, but tru him ketch him fraid, him sit dung inna di house wid har body until all a wi lef di street,” said Livert Simpson, who was alerted to the tragedy by the shrill wail of the deceased’s mother, Annette Keeling.

The elder Keeling said that her daughter had been in a jovial mood on Saturday, adding that she was unaware of any dispute the couple had.

“Mi cah believe seh a dis mi get fi mi Mother’s Day present. Mi daughter over here wid mi whole day yesterday until har niece comb her hair. We even a joke and a seh a Mother’s Day hairstyle, an’ then she lef’ an’ go over inna the evening.”

Annette Keeling said it was early Sunday morning that she received a telephone call that Nickeisha, allegedly, had been murdered by her partner, with whom she shares the eight-year-old.

The grieving mother told The Gleaner that she had heard that Nickeisha’s common-law spouse had been incarcerated in the past for allegedly killing his girlfriend in Westmoreland, an accusation shared by several residents in the community.

But the police could not confirm the veracity of those allegations, saying that investigations were in their infancy.

Keeling’s death is the fifth killing in Trelawny this year.

Up to May 7, Trelawny was the third-safest parish by sheer murders, with four killings, with only St Mary, three, and Portland, two, having more favourable figures.

But Keeling’s death was preceded by the April 15 attempted murder of Stephina Ralston, 23, in Warsop, Trelawny, with her ex-lover accused of a violent stabbing attack.

A senior officer in Trelawny said that police and government authorities were increasingly concerned about the prevalence of domestic violence conflicts.

“This latest attack and murder of another female has come at a time when the Government is faced with the challenges of fighting a pandemic,and also going up against the deadly attacks being carried out on women across the island,” the cop, who requested anonymity, told The Gleaner.

Gender Minister Olivia Grange has indicated that the Government would be amending the Domestic Violence Act to offer tougher penalties on offenders.

editorial@gleanerjm.com