By Dale McNish, Freelance WriterWESTERN BUREAU:
HOURS BEFORE committing the bizarre act of plunging a knife into her mother's throat, 47-year old Phyllis Tate held a mini church service in her father's bedroom.
Tate returned from church at about 10:00 p.m. on April 4. The mentally challenged woman then reportedly read a passage of scripture, prayed and sang "Jesus Lover of My Soul" before stabbing her 81-year old mother, Prudence, in the throat.
With raised hands, her helpless mother's pleas of, "Lord Jesus! Phyllis yu duh kill me", at least three times, were not enough to soften her youngest daughter's heart.
"Phyllis never sick when she kill har mother... no sick smady nuh sing, pray and preach like that," said her 87-year old father Clifford.
The Hanover family is still wrenching in pain and disbelief, not just because a loved one is dead, but because of the circumstances.
Mrs. Tate will be buried today (Saturday) following a funeral service at the Alexander Methodist Church in Bessie Baker, where she worshipped for a number of years.
Family members are contradicting media reports that the elderly woman and her daughter were involved in an ongoing dispute, and pointed out that hours before tragedy struck, Phyllis prepared and shared dinner for the family.
After dinner, Phyllis took the plates to the kitchen, Mr. Tate said. His wife got up and went to her bedroom and came back out with a pair of shoes cut at both sides to show him.
She said to me, "Clifford a you cut mi shoes that Kernel (their son) give me six years now."
"I told her no," Mr. Tate said. Phyllis was asked about the shoes and she denied having anything to do with it, after being questioned further she reportedly got angry. Threats by her mother about telling her son when next she saw him evoked a cold response from Phyllis and she replied, "yu might nuh live fi see Kernel."
Mr. Tate told The Gleaner he got up and went to the bathroom, while there he heard his wife scream, "Clifford, Phyllis use the cup to chop me inna mi face." He came out and asked Phyllis why she hit her mother, but didn't get a response.
Minutes later, Phyllis retrieved her Bible and handbag and ordered Valerie, the helper to go home, even following her to a section of the main road. Mr. Tate recalled that Phyllis left for church at about 7 p.m. and returned three hours later. She ate and drank, changed into her nightie and made numerous trips to the bathroom.
Mr. Tate said his wife cautioned Phyllis about wasting the water, because the helper had complained of being tired of having to fill the water-tank daily.
Phyllis asked him to open the door. When she reached inside, she struck a match and lit the floor mat. "I had to use my foot and stamp out the fire," the grief-stricken father recalled.
She then left the room and Mr. Tate began to wonder if she was getting ill again. "I just couldn't sleep," he said.
Phyllis returned to her father's room, this time armed with her Bible, she read and elaborated on a passage of scripture, prayed and sang. After doing all of that, Mr. Tate, who is often physically abused by his daughter, said she used the cover of a pan to hit him in the head.
Mr. Tate recalled that she took up a knife and asked for the bread, and he told her none was there. She started sharpening the knife and left the room.
It was about 3:55 a.m., on Thursday, Mr. Tate said he heard Phyllis telling her mother, "mi ready fi you now." He got up, went into his wife's bedroom and saw Phyllis standing over her with the knife before proceeding to stab her.
Mr. Tate managed to creep out of the house and called for help, before his daughter could unleash her wrath on him. Phyllis was restrained by neighbours. "I don't want to see her for the rest of my life, she is a wicked girl, a cruel girl," Mr. Tate said, choking back the tears.
Phyllis Tate has since been charged with murder. She was remanded for psychiatric assessment when she appeared in court last Thursday, and is scheduled to reappear on May 3.
