BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE partly decomposed body of a 51-year-old woman was yesterday morning (Aug. 23) discovered by a joint Police/Army patrol within a building in La Guerite.
This information was confirmed by Acting Police Press and Public Relations Officer, Sergeant Stephen Hector, who indicated that the body was identified as Shermaine Benjamin.
This media house learned that about 7:00 a.m. while the security officers were patrolling in the La Guerite area, they recognised that a foul stench was emanating from a building within a yard filled with tall grasses and bushes.
Upon investigation, the officers found the partly decomposed body of Benjamin lying in the bathroom area within the house.
District Medical Officer Dr. Mervyn Laws and Resident Pathologist Adrian Nunez were summoned to the scene, and permission was granted by the Coroner for the body to be removed from the house.
SKNVibes also learned that because of the decomposed state of the body, Benjamin was buried at the Springfield Cemetery immediately after the police handed over the body to her relatives.
According to one resident, Benjamin was last seen alive on Monday, August 15.
The resident was in high praise of the officers, noting that Benjamin was an introvert and were it not for the officers they would not have known of her death.
“She was an individual who kept to herself. She would hardly communicate with people in the area, and even if the stench had become unbearable neighbours might not have known it was that of a human, because the yard is filled with tall grasses and bushes and we may have thought that some animal had died there,” the resident said.
The resident alleged that Benjamin, a former Sunday School teacher at the Zion Moravian Church, was suspected to be mentally challenged.
According to Sergeant Hector, police have ruled out the notion of foul play.
