Relatives in shock

RELATIVES of 83-year-old Polly Kunti Bahadoor are still in shock after she was beaten to death allegedly by an 18-year-old male relative on Sunday. The woman used to get around by using a wheelchair.

The relatives told Newsday at the Forensic Science Centre in St James yesterday, the suspect moved into Bahadoor’s home at Pierre Road, Charlieville about two months ago.

On Sunday night, one relative who lives next door heard screaming coming from Bahadoor’s house and went to check on her.

When she got inside, she saw the teenager beating Bahadoor with a stick. The relative ran out of the house calling on neighbours and other relatives for help before locking herself inside her own house. People who responded checked inside Bahadoor’s house and found her in the living room with her head bashed in. The suspect was found in the garage crying and saying “Mama dead.” Bahadoor was described as a spirited and energetic woman in spite of her challenges with mobility.

“She was a very brisk and bright lady who would always do housework. She was not a lazy person. She was always moving. She would take a mop and broom and she would drag and clean even though she was in the wheelchair.

“I would come in and ask what she is doing and she would say I am cleaning my house.”

Relatives said Bahadoor was popularly known in the neighbourhood as Polly Mama.

“She used to sell pholourie and saheena. She would sell those and hold sou sou and save money. That is what she used to build her house.”

No charges have yet been laid against the suspect.