A 38-year-old Port Kaituma woman was hacked to death by her reputed husband early yesterday morning and her teenage daughter was chopped across the face, police say.
Deborah Allen of Oronoque, Port Kaituma, North West District was pronounced dead on arrival at the Port Kaituma Hospital and 16-year-old Sherrian Allen was air-dashed to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC) for emergency medical attention.
Police in a press statement yesterday afternoon said they are investigating the murder of Allen, and the wounding of her daughter which occurred at about 5am.
Investigations, the police stated, have revealed that Allen and her reputed husband had gone to a party during the night and while returning home an argument ensued. According to the police, Allen and her daughter went into a bedroom and locked it after arriving home.
Reports are that the reputed husband broke into the room armed with a cutlass and dealt several chops about the body of Allen and a chop to the face of her daughter. Allen, the police informed, was taken to the Port Kaituma Hospital where she was pronounced dead on arrival.
Efforts are being made to locate the suspect who escaped after the incident, the press statement further said.
Sherrian was admitted to the GPHC where she remained in stable condition up to late yesterday afternoon. The teen’s nose was broken, a relative reported, and her left eye damaged during the attack. Her left eye was covered with layers of bandaging and she told this newspaper that she was seeing “blurry” with her right eye.
Doctors, the relative explained, will further examine the young woman’s eyes today to determine whether her vision will be permanently impaired.
When this newspaper visited the teen shortly after 4.15 pm yesterday she was in the process of giving her statement to the police. Several relatives surrounded Sherrian but the teen insisted that she wasn’t feeling much pain.
“I remember nuff thing,” Sherrian told this newspaper. “Is a small chopper he use to chop us…he chop me and then he chop my mother.”
The teen explained that she, her mother and stepfather went out on Saturday night. According to the young woman the man was drinking heavily and he began arguing with Allen. When they got home yesterday morning, Sherrian said, the man started to argue with her mother again.
Allen, the teen said, had threatened to go to the police but later changed her mind and they went to bed. Sherrian said that sometime later her stepfather managed to find a way into the house and startled them.
“We locked the door to the house and went into the bedroom to sleep,” Sherrian recalled, “We wake up later only to realize that he get into the house and he was shining a torchlight in our face. He accuse my mother of going to the police and she tried to tell him is not true and she did not bother go to the police.”
Shortly after, Sherrian said, the man dealt a chop to her face but Allen begged for her and the man then turned his attention to her instead. Allen was chopped several times about the body, the teen said.
Sherrian told Stabroek News that with her wound bleeding profusely she “ran fast for about ten minutes” to get to the Police Station, which is located at the Water Front, to get help for her mother. She further said that her mother had been in a relationship with the man for about 12 years.
“He would only verbally abuse us when he’s drunk and he hit my mother a few times but only when he’s drunk,” she said.
Trudy Charles, an older cousin, told Stabroek News that Sherrian is now in her care and she will do everything in her power to see that the teen is safe.
Relatives also said that this is not the first time the man had attacked someone. According to them, last January he had attacked Allen’s brother whom he chopped several times about the body. (Sara Bharrat)
