Cops suspect bizarre ritual as dead sex trafficker’s grave upturned

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After receiving a tip-off that the body of murdered human trafficker Keon Charles had been exhumed and dismembered, police returned to the cemetery yesterday morning to dig up his grave.

But after digging for two hours, they found the body intact.

Charles, 40, aka Papa, of Morne Diablo, Penal Rock Road, was shot dead around 3.35 pm last week Sunday behind a shop near his home. His funeral took place on Thursday, following which he was buried at the Penal Rock Road Cemetery.

However, hours after his funeral, the mother of four of his children received information that his grave had been upturned. When she visited the cemetery, the soil around his grave had been dug up. She then went to the police requesting permission to exhume the body.

“I am just doing this to make sure that the body that I left there is there. This is just for my peace of mind. My husband got shot on the 24th of October on Penal Rock Road,” she revealed.

She admitted that her husband had children with several women.

“I don’t know how I coping. I am just trying to get there. No one has been arrested yet,” she said.

Sgt David Jones, who is in charge of Penal Police Station, supervised the operation along with ASP Mathura.

Speaking to Guardian Media, Jones said there seemed to be a Venezuelan link to the grave tampering. “We received information that Charles was involved in a relationship with a Venezuelan national who gave birth to twins on the day he was killed,” Jones said.

“This man also had 13 children with one woman and four children with another. The information we received is that he wasn’t a friendly person with Venezuelan nationals. Traditionally, whenever you were unkind to Venezuelan people, they will dig up the body and dismember it. That was the intention on this occasion.”

Jones said the people who tried to dig up the grave knew where the head was placed. He said they were perusing surveillance cameras to see who tried to dig up the grave.

Charles was killed on the day he celebrated his 40th birthday.

Jones said they had no evidence that Charles’ death had a Venezuelan link but noted that Homicide officers were still doing that investigation.

Meanwhile, the digging of the grave attracted the attention of spectators who went to do the annual cleaning for All Saints Day.

Rennie Ganga said he was there to clean his grandmother’s grave and was astonished to see a grave being dug up.

“First time I ever see anything like this. I wanted to go closer but the police said we could not go there. They said the body was dismembered but when they checked that was not so. I was shocked to find out this is happening here,” Ganga said.

Police left the Penal Rock Road cemetery after midday.