ST ANN’S BAY, St Ann — The family of a disabled woman who was raped and murdered at her home in Higgin Town near here has denied that the 33-year-old woman was neglected, as is being portrayed by many.
The body of 33-year-old Terry Bowen was found with multiple stab wounds and her head covered with a bucket last Tuesday. Since her death several people have stated that she was not receiving proper care and was living in inhumane conditions. However, her family has brushed aside those allegations, saying that they have been doing all that was possible to care for her while seeking the Government’s assistance to get her into an infirmary where she would be able to receive better care.
Bernard Tulloch and his wife Melody said they had been caring for his sister Terry Bowen, and described talk that the woman was neglected as mischievous. According to Melody Tulloch, she met Bowen when Bowen’s mother fell ill and the disabled woman and her mother moved to St Ann from Westmoreland several years ago. Since the death of her mother-in-law, Tulloch said she has been assisting her husband to care for Bowen.
“I assist my husband with her by taking care of her, seeing to it that she is well taken care of by getting something to eat, get her bath and look proper,” she said.
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She said that Bowen posed challenges because of her mental disability, but she was very helpful to the family. Bowen had a small physique and would behave like a young child despite being 33 years old, she said.
“Taking care of Terry was really my heart’s desire, but I know further down the line I could not care for her in the way that she really needed to be taken care of,” Tulloch said. This prompted her to try and get her into State care.
She said that Bowen was raped previously and was impregnated about seven years ago.
It was when she fainted and was taken to the doctor that they found out she had been sexually molested and was pregnant.
“The psychiatrist said she think like a two-year-old and cannot consent to sex, so anyone do it, it would be rape. I remember that I went to the police station and gave an interview and she called the name of the person who did it, and up to today nothing never come out of that investigation. It was thrown under the carpet, maybe because she was poor,” Bernard Tulloch said.
“When she was alive, if you ask her who her baby father was, it’s only one name she would call,” he continued.
“When she took sick, she go into a seizure and they had to take the baby from her,” Bowen’s sister-in-law stated.
“During that time I was going to a social worker. I don’t remember her name. She try her best to help me, but I did not get any help there,” Melody Tulloch said.
It was then that she approached a former mayor who recommended that she make an application to the Poor Relief Department to have Bowen taken into State care through the St Ann Infirmary.
“When I went there, they gave me a form to take her to the doctor and get the form filled up, which I did. I get the form filled up and take it back there and up until now I have not gotten any help to take her into the infirmary… I tried my best honestly and God know that I do my best to help,” Melody Tulloch said.
“I know within my heart that I have done my best,” she continued.
Tulloch said that family members did all they could to get Bowen to live with them, but the young woman who lived with her mother before her mother died years ago would stubbornly returned to the home she shared with her mother. She would, however, visit the Tullochs daily, where she stayed all day until she was ready to go to bed at nights.
“When she had the baby I took her home with me, but Terry is a person like this, she don’t like to be around people,” Tulloch said.
“She was there with me. I was taking care of her until one day I went to St Ann’s Bay and Terry packed up her stuff and she leave,” she continued.
She explained that renovations were being done on the house where Bowen lived, so she was living in a one-bedroom with doors and windows.
“Terry was well taken care of by us because I see to it that Terry was fed properly, that she was clean. I don’t think I could do anything else. The only help that I really truly did want for her was for them to take her into State care because I could not manage anymore, because I have five children here, I have my husband here. He is the only person that work and he is sick,” Melody Tulloch said.
“Yu know how hard that is; I have two children going to high school and I have a two-year-old baby. I really don’t think I could so anymore. My heart is really rending to see how they went in raped her and killed her, because she is there for 14 years,” she continued.
Bernard Tulloch, who was released from the hospital just a few weeks ago for suffering from hypertension and diabetes, said the death of his sister is devastating for him.
“This is more than barbaric,” Tulloch said.
“I know the reason why they kill her — because she could identify the person that did it. She know who,” Bernard Tulloch said.
While the family said they have been doing all they can for Bowen, some people believe that she should not have lived alone due to her mental disability.
“It was very ruthless,” Rohan Gordon, a member of the community, described the murder and killing of Bowen. While he condemned the killing, he expressed concern that a person with disability slept in a house alone without electricity.
“Preaching love and showing love is two different things,” an upset Gordon said.
He said that while Bowen may have insisted on staying alone, she should not have been allowed to make the decision
However, other members of the community believe that the family did well in caring for Bowen before she was attacked and murdered.
“Family members take care of her,” one woman said.
“She go up there every morning and come down in the evening. No matter how the rain a fall, she nah stay,” the woman continued.
The police have since taken a man into custody in relation to the murder.
Yes I see now that the men in the community have been taking advantage of her. That is sad. Very sad.
I am with the ppl who said she should not have been living alone. If her mentality is at a two year old level then she lacks the capacity to make any life choice for herself. She should have been under the care of a relative 24/7, especially since she was raped already. Folks don’t want nobody else’s problems, this is a story for all single mothers to take note of, make sure you know who will take care of your child if you die early, put things in place while life in unno, cause family cannot always be depended on, see it was a stranger giving primary care to this lady, stranger initiated an action to get her in a facility. She was neglected by her family!
I understand that the property she was living in looked abandoned and dilapidated to anyone passing by, with windows missing, doors insecure and no electricity.- even if she was living in a completed section of the building.This would have been risky for anyone living alone, but especially a vulnerable female with the stature and mind of an infant. The fact that she had previously been raped reinforced the dangers she was exposed to and the need to be living in a secure environment , with other family members, even if forced to do so. I know it can’t have been easy for the brother and sister-in-law , but without her mother, they were the only people who could care for her well being and it seems as if they are anxious to explain what help they did provide, due to the guilt they are feeling in response to the neglect accusations.
Someone close to her dweet dats y dem cover her face
Dem could have find a better place fof her meck.lisa hanna and her family move from yah dem lef her to suffer at d hands a dose nasty men
From mi read this yesterday I realized that this happened to her numerous times. How two year old a tell you weh fi do?
She cutout di part af the video where sasco dodge har kiss. Shi planted ova ya from yessiday. Mussi Pink Wall shi did a check when shi on har pone a NYE Party….sadddddd
*Wrang post…gone back ova di UPT Dash-out post