BAG OVER HEAD

That was how relatives found 23-year-old Chaguanas mother, Sharlene Somai yesterday - two days after a relative reported her missing.

In less than an hour after the discovery, police detained a 35-yearold close male relative who, up to last night, remained in custody.

Relatives said he is originally from Sangre Grande and assisted in the search for Somai.

Police reports state that shortly after 1pm yesterday, officers went to an access road off Petersfield Main Road, Chaguanas and found the body in some bushes in a parcel of land belonging to the now defunct Caroni (1975) Limited.

Somai was clad only in a pink teeshirt and black bra with the bag over her head and a piece of wire around her neck. She lived with her common- law husband, Suraj Toolsie, and other relatives a short distance away along Petersfield Main Road in Chaguanas.

Although relatives say they believe that she may have been abducted for unknown reasons, police investigators are working on the theory that she was killed by someone she knew.

On Wednesday, Toolsie reported to Chaguanas police that the night before, at about 8 pm, she left home to go to a nearby parlour. However, she did not return home and all calls to her cellular phone went unanswered. Somai, the mother of a four-year-old boy, was last seen wearing a brown vest, short pants and brown slippers.

At the scene of the discovery yesterday, Somai’s mother Kamla Rampersad wept uncontrollably and kept repeating that she wanted to see her daughter’s body - a request which was denied by police.

Aunt Wendy Singh explained that Somai normally frequented and spent time at the parlour. So when a male relative told them that she had gone there, no one paid much attention. The relative said he was getting the child ready for bed and subsequently he fell asleep.

Singh added that he told relatives that at about 9 pm that same night, he woke up but Somai was nowhere to be seen. He then enquired from her brother her whereabouts.

“They looked outside and the lights were still on at the parlour so they assumed she was still there.

The relative went back to bed and at about 11.45 pm he again woke and discovered she was not there,” Singh added.

At that time the parlour was already closed and relatives became concerned and began to telephone her. During a frantic search for Somai, relatives discovered that she never made it to the parlour the night she was last seen alive.

“However, she was taken from the compound, the phone fell down in the gallery. They (relatives) found it at about 8 am the next morning and they knew immediately that something was wrong.” About three weeks ago, Somai and a relative began operating a fast food outlet at Bamboo, near the Grand Bazaar interchange. Singh does not believe that the killing is linked to the business.

“It is not as if they have money put away or anything. We were hoping to find here alive. She was in a relationship for nine years. They had a good relationship. They did not have any problems that we knew about. She did not have enemies that we knew about,” Singh added.

She called on neighbours to look out for each other adding that praying and fasting alone will not solve the crime situation.

“Even when we were asking neighbours for help, no one was willing to come forward. No one was willing to say, ‘this is what we saw’. Everybody was hush-hush.

Sharlene was a jolly, lively person.

Everyone around her seemed to have liked her a lot.” Somai’s brother, Christopher Somai, 21, said relatives did not observe any strange activities the night she went missing.

“Sharlene and I had the best bond in the family. It is real sad. I cannot believe this happened. This is shocking, it is weird for something like this to happen to her. She was just so nice, just like me.” Another sibling, Anthony Somai, 24, said he believes that the death was “some sort of jealousy thing”.

Friend of the family, pastor Keith Ramdass of the Redemption Worship Centre at St Thomas Village in Chaguanas called on the authorities to stop the blame game.

Ramdass said, “If you are in power, you have the responsibility to govern and the blame game has to stop. Somebody has to act. Other than prayer, we need all arms to get on board and say enough is enough.

There is too much tears falling, too much bloodshed.” An autopsy is expected to be performed today at the Forensic Sciences Centre at St James.