A gruesome discovery in a spiritualist’s backyard

By Danielle Campbell-Lowe

It is the kind of thing you would expect to see only in a horror movie. A woman, kneeling besides an open grave; clawing at the mud with her bare hands; trying to conceal the limp body she had placed there minutes before.
A shovel in a bucket of muddy water lay close to her feet, and under her house: a towel, tarpaulin and sheet, strewn on a clothes line. Such was the scene police witnessed firsthand at the Second and Cummings streets, Alberttown home of famed spiritualist, Patricia Alves, popularly referred to as “Mother Alves” or “Sister Pat” on February 15, 2002.
At around 06:00h that morning, Evril Small was preparing breakfast when she looked through her window and saw a sheet, towel and a tarpaulin under Alves’ house. Alves was moving back and forth in the yard while members of her church kept calling at the gate, but got no response.
Suspecting that something was amiss, Small went down into her yard towards a back fence where she could have gotten a clearer view of Alves’ yard. According to Small, she peered through a hole in her zinc fence and was aghast at what she saw. She quickly summoned another neighbour who also peeped through the hole before telephoning police.
Feet sticking out of the grave
The police arrived in time to see Alves scraping at the wet earth in an attempt to hide the feet of the woman she was burying. Police investigators related that Alves had already buried the upper part of the dead body but the person’s legs were sticking out of the grave.
The victim, 32-year-old Parbattie Camille Seenauth, had moved in with Alves during November 2001 after visiting her home to run errands, including purchasing groceries, cleaning and hanging out clothes.
Small described Seenauth as a squatty, light-complexioned woman with curly hair.
She recalled that the relationship between Seenauth and Alves was amicable for a while until Seenauth became the victim of daily beatings.
Small explained that Seenauth would sometimes receive whippings with a broom, a stick, cutlass and even a piece of iron and at other times Alves used her feet to kick the seemingly submissive woman.
She said Seenauth never fought back but would be heard saying, “Ow Sister Pat, don’t beat me”.
On February 11, 2001, at around midday, Small was preparing to collect her grandson from school when she heard a sound as if someone was being beaten.
She ventured to her western window and saw Seenauth, clad only in underwear, being beaten by Alves who was wielding a long metal pipe in the passageway separating the yards.
That was the last time Small saw Seenauth. Investigation revealed that Alves had a petulant personality, which resulted in poor interpersonal relationships with her neighbours.
Unholy congregation
Alves had led a congregation of believers in “demon worship”, setting up what is referred to as a “Spiritual Church” in her home. She and her church members would beat drums loudly, and hold church services frequently, sometimes way into the wee hours of the night.
After Alves’ arrest, she told police that Seenauth had fallen ill on the morning of February 14 and she had failed to convince the sick woman to seek medical attention.
Later that day, Alves claimed that she found Seenauth motionless and unresponsive and decided to bury her remains. However, detectives based their case on the premise that Alves had fatally beat Seenauth during a ritual to drive out evil spirits.

A post-mortem examination revealed that Seenauth died from strangulation and sexual assault, and there were other marks of violence about her body, including evidence of bludgeoning to the forehead.
In 2005, after a highly publicised trial, 44-year-old Alves was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. A series of pseudonyms were forced on Alves, including voodoo priestess, self-proclaimed healer, spiritualist, obeah pastor, among many others.
Victim’s background
Seenauth was originally from Charity on the Essequibo Coast, and had journeyed to the city seeking a better chance at life. Initially, she had been staying with an elderly aunt, Parbattie Lall at Montrose on the East Coast Demerara.
Lall said she was heartbroken when Seenauth decided to move, since she loved her niece dearly and even financed computer studies on learning that it was Seenauth’s passion.
The woman recalled that Seenauth was very fashion conscious and since the two shared the same first name, she tried her utmost to make her comfortable. “I didn’t want her to go, but she promised me she would phone me, and that she would come back to see me the next Sunday. She left and I never saw her back nor even heard from her again,” Lall said.
Lall’s son, Kayman Lall said that after spending almost two years at their home, Seenauth accepted an offer as a domestic and they never saw her again.
Seenauth’s brother, Seemangal, said that after his sister left the Essequibo Coast, they had heard regularly from her. But after she left her aunt’s home, there was a breakdown in communication until one day when she called and left a contact number. “But one day she called, and she was crying. We tried to find out what was wrong, but she would not say and then she hung up,” Seemangal recounted. After that, Seenauth did not call again.
Relatives became worried and after a few days, tried contacting Seenauth using the telephone number she had left. However, Seemangal said the reception was not very warm, and Seenauth warned them never to call the number again.
Desecrated funeral service
At her funeral service at Le Repentir Cemetery, relatives were clearly emotional at the glimpse of her badly battered body.
Among the mourners were Seenauth’s two sisters – Vadwattie and Deowattie, her brother, Seemangal and an aunt, Ramrattie Hardyal, who all travelled from the Essequibo Coast and the Pomeroon River for the funeral.
But something strange occurred during the funeral service. Police handed over a travelling bag to the family that was supposed to contain her personal belongings.
However, when relatives opened the bag, they were greeted by a concoction of offensive odours coming from two dozen candles of various colours, a dinner bell, a calabash, photographs of Hindu deities and a quantity of perplexing powders.
A family friend, who is also a pastor, bravely volunteered to dispose of the bag by burning its contents at the gravesite. While relatives were uncertain about the nature of Seenauth’s belongings during her stay with Alves, they disclosed that a wedding band which she wore was handed over to them by the police.
Is there a
victim number two?
While Alves was in prison, her house suddenly caught fire and burnt to the ground.
But just when neighbours thought that the dust had settled, a strange woman turned up at Alves’ home in search of her 16-year-old daughter.
Of course, Alves was in prison and the woman related her sordid tale to neighbours. She said she had migrated to a Caribbean country, leaving her daughter in the care of an aunt.
The woman said she subsequently returned to Guyana, but her daughter could not be found. She inquired from her sister and was told that the daughter was a frequent visitor to the home of “Mother Alves”.
To this day, the woman has not seen or heard from her daughter and neighbours are curious as to whether another body may turn up in Alves’ backyard. Last December, Alves was released from prison after serving her prison sentence. She is said to be living somewhere in Canje, Berbice.