A 25-year-old Palo Seco woman is now in police custody after she confessed to a religious leader that she strangled a seven-year-old girl.

Dead is Mckenzie Hope Rechia of 7 Road Extension, Palo Seco.

WPC Monsegue and Cpl Aguillera of the Santa Flora police station found the girl's body at around 12.05 am on Saturday on a mattress at her home.

A police report said the unemployed suspect, a relative, reported that she left the girl alone in the house at about 4 pm on Friday. She went to a supermarket with a male friend, 40, from Chinese Village, La Brea.

She asked the friend to take her to visit her imam who was at a Claxton Bay mosque.

He complied and they met the imam at around 10.20 pm.

She confessed to the imam that she strangled Mckenzie, who was left unresponsive at home.

The imam accompanied the woman and the friend to the house, where they saw the child's body in a foetal position. The body had red marks on the right side of the neck and her face was swollen.

The imam called the Santa Flora police, who also informed Homicide Bureau Region III police.

Insp Corrie, Sgts Gosine and Deo, WPC Valdez, and other police visited the scene.

The post Palo Seco girl, 7, killed at home, relative in custody appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.