Pensioner murdered 6 years after surviving gun, arson attack

Odessa Constance, 76 -
Odessa Constance, 76 -

AFTER surviving a gun and arson attack on her home some six years ago, pensioner Odessa Constance has been murdered.

Constance's bloodied body with her face bashed in, was discovered in her bedroom by URP workers who did not see her in her gallery as was customary, on Friday morning.

Police are trying to establish a motive for the death of the 76-year-old mother of two, who lived alone at Newtown Junction, Nagee Road, Hindustand, New Grant.

They said there was a wound over her left ear, minor swelling, with blood on her face and neck. Blood was also splattered on the nearby wall and floor.

Police are also looking into the possibility that she may have been killed during a robbery for her pension, which she collected the day before, or any possible link to the previous shooting.

In that previous incident, Constance was asleep with her daughter Rene Dorner, then 32, and boyfriend Judah Jackson, then 32, of Laventille, when her house was sprayed with bullets.

She woke up and alarmed the arsonists who took off. “Channa bombs” were seized by the police.

In an interview with the media at that time, she said she was afraid for her life. Her neighbours said yesterday, she never moved nor locked her door.

Sharon Jackson, one of the people who made the discovery, told the Newsday she last spoke to her on Thursday evening.

“The boy at the bar (opposite her home) said he saw her when he opened at 10 pm. I talked to her up until yesterday evening. Her daughter Donna came and took her to change her pension on Thursday and brought her back. She was good up until last night.

Crime scene investigators at the property of Odessa Constance, 76, who was found dead at her Hindustan, New Grant, home on Friday morning. - Lincoln Holder

Sharon’s daughter, La Toya Jackson, described Constance as the livewire of the community.

“She was the eyes and ears of Newtown Junction. Normally she would sit in her gallery observing what was taking place. She is usually up around 6 am and people passing would say good morning or wave to her.

“Around 9 am Friday, when URP workers did not see her, two of them went in the house to see what was going on – whether she fell sick – as she lived alone.

“When they went in, they saw her on the bed. Her face was swollen. It looked like she was beaten to death. There was blood all over. Her feet and half of her body was hanging out of the bed.”

One of Constance’s daughters, Donna, was almost too distraught to speak to the media. She said her mother had two children.

With tears welling up in her eyes, she said her mother was a generous woman who would have done anything for her. She said Constance was last seen alive around 9 pm the night before.

In conversation with others who gathered at the scene on Friday morning, Donna was overheard saying she begged her mother to come and live with her but she refused to do so.

Neigbours huddled together, sharing memories of Constance, while the police and CSI officers processed the scene. They said the community looked after her and vice versa.

One man said, “Whenever you passed, she was in her gallery looking out for everybody. She looked after everybody, even the smallest baby. If that baby cried in the night, she would enquire about it, from the parents, the next day.

“Her death is a great loss to this community. People are hurting,” said one man

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