CLAREMONT, St Ann : Mother of five killed, 27 y-o Mellissa Smith was chopped all over her body,, schoolgirl raped in St Ann...

BY RENAE DIXON Observer staff reporter dixonr@jamaicaobserver.com  Thursday, June 25, 2015    

CLAREMONT, St Ann — The St Ann police were up to late yesterday searching for a man who viciously chopped a woman — who later died — and raped a schoolgirl near Barrett Hall, Golden Grove, in the parish on Tuesday.

The lonely radio where incident took place

Twenty-seven-year-old Mellissa Smith — a mother of five — was chopped all over her body, with one of her arms severed, by a man riding a bicycle. She succumbed to her injuries yesterday at St Ann's Bay Hospital where she was taken for treatment.

Yesterday, there were conflicting accounts as to how the attack happened. Some residents said that the woman was attacked when she happened upon the man while he was in the act of raping the schoolgirl. Others said that the two were walking on the lonely stretch of road when they were surprised by the man.

But for Smith's common-law husband, Paul McKenzie, whatever happened, he is now without a partner and left to single-handedly raise their five children -- whose ages range from two to 10 years.

McKenzie said he received the news of his partner's demise while he was at work. "Yesterday morning (Tuesday) when mi reach work mi get a phone call seh Mellisa get chop up on Bridge Road," McKenzie said, explaining that he immediately rushed to St Ann's Bay Hospital where she was taken.

"Pure blood mi see fi go up a theatre... when mi look on her a just her little mouth mi could see," McKenzie said, noting that Mellissa's face was heavily bandaged.

He said one doctor told him they were the worst chopping wounds he had seen in his years working at the hospital.

Residents, who had seen Smith on the scene before she was taken to hospital, said sections of her face were falling off and that one of her arms was severed.

McKenzie, meanwhile, said the doctors fought to save Smith's life.

"Dem give her bout six bags of blood; she bleed it out back," he told the Jamaica Observer. "We had a prayer meeting for her about 6 o'clock. When we left, we got a call that she gone." more