Adrian Frater, News Editor

Has been acting strangely since dad's death

Western Bureau:

Ever since his father, ice cream vendor Fredrick Turner, died in a motorcycle accident two weeks ago, 19-year-old Kevin Turner has reportedly been acting strangely, chasing residents of his home district, Petersfield, Westmoreland, with a knife, inflicting wounds on a few occasions.

Concerned about his mental state, relatives have been repeatedly taking him to get medical attention.

Yesterday, Kevin is believed to have done the unthinkable - beheading his 76-year-old grandmother, Phyllis Watson-Turner, who had only recently returned to the island from her home in Canada to bury his dad.

"He (Kevin) has been acting strangely since his father died … . I guess he took it very hard," said Senior Detective Paul Bernard, the police's crime chief for Westmoreland.

"We have learnt that he had been chasing people around the community and flashing knives in their faces."

A relative told The Gleaner that on Wednesday night, Turner (Kevin) and his grandmother retired to bed in the house they had been sharing since she returned to the island to make funeral preparations for the youngster's father.

"This morning, he (Kevin) turned up at another relative's house covered in blood and said he was slaughtering chickens," said the relative, who asked not to be identified. "However, because of the amount of blood on him, it was clear that his story was not true."

headless body discovered

Relatives said Kevin was taken back to the house he shared with his grandmother and it was there that her headless body was discovered and the police alerted.

When he was asked for his grandmother's head, the young man reportedly said he did not know because all he had slaughtered were chickens. When asked what he did with the heads of the chickens, the relatives claim he went and fetched his grandmother's head, which he calmly placed beside her body.

"After the grandmother's body was found, he left the grieving relatives behind and went into the community and attacked another man with a knife," said Bernard. "It was after that that we managed to hold him and take him into custody."

Although it appeared quite obvious that he was responsible for his grandmother's death, Bernard said investigations were still continuing and he has not yet been charged.

"We have charged him for the man he attacked and wounded after his grandmother's body was found, but we have not charged him for anything else at this time," Bernard said. "Nonetheless, I believe charges will be laid against him soon."

adrian.frater@gleanerjm.com