(Jamaica Gleaner) Residents of Berkshire District in Bethel Town, Westmoreland, were left baffled yesterday, as they woke up to the shocking news that a seemingly quiet second form high school student had allegedly attacked and murdered his mother early Wednesday night.
The victim, who was stabbed multiple times and had her throat slashed, has been identified as 44-year-old Petrenia Grace McDonald, a popular farmer in the rural community. She was reportedly attacked as she sat in her house watching television.
“I went up to the house for my dinner and I was there with them (mother and son) for a while watching a movie on a laptop they have up there. Shortly after I left, I got the news that something happened to my mother and when I went back up there, I saw her dead body,” shared Micai Stone, McDonald’s 19-year-old son, who lives elsewhere.
“I cannot understand what happened because my little brother is not a violent person,” noted Stone, of his 13-year-old brother, who attends a prominent high school in St Elizabeth. “He is very quiet and he spends his time between doing his bookwork and watching movies. What happened is a big surprise to me. This would be the last thing I would expect to happen.”
ALWAYS QUIET AND PEACEFUL
According to reports, about 7:40 p.m. on Wednesday, McDonald’s neighbours heard screams coming from her concrete and board house and rushed over to investigate. When they barged into the house, they found her in a pool of blood on the floor and her son covered in blood with a knife in one of his hands.
“I know de likkle youth from him small and him was always quiet and peaceful,” Keith Samuels, a resident of the community, told The Gleaner. “I also know the mother well. They were always together. You rarely see one without the other.”
Jessica McDonald, the sister of the slain woman, was almost inconsolable when The Gleaner spoke to her outside the house where the gruesome killing took place.
“My sister was a very quiet and loving person,” she said, crying openly. “She loved her two sons very much. She would do anything to make them happy. I still can’t believe (name left out) would kill her. We don’t know him as that kind of child.”
The residents, who turned the youngster over to the police when they arrived at the house, said he had a forlorn look on his face and seemed confused. The youngster is now in police custody.
