Suspect in Sophia stabbing held

The suspect in the stabbing at Sophia on Sunday, which left a man hospitalised, is in police custody, while two suspected arsonists, who reportedly torched three houses in retaliation, are still being sought, ‘C’ Division Commander Calvin Brutus says.

Brutus told Stabroek News that the police are in pursuit of two persons who allegedly set the houses on fire although their full names are not yet known, only their aliases.

Alvano Williams, 29, of B Field Sophia, was stabbed and chopped about his body around 8.30am on Sunday at Dennis Street, Sophia. He remained hospitalised up to yesterday afternoon.

Reports are that the incident stemmed from a dispute between Williams and the suspect over a woman.

Williams’s girlfriend, Amanda David, had said that he had been following her to work when the attack occurred. She recalled that they were approached by three men on bicycles and one of them stabbed Williams to the chest.

“…The boy come up to him and seh, ‘You want problem with me?’ So me boy seh, ‘Boy move from hey.’ And he push me boy, and he had a long brown thing and he push it in he and then they start scuffling. And then he run away and me boy try fuh run across the bridge and me boy fall down,” David stated.

She said that after Williams fell, it was then that the other two men began chopping him about the body with a cutlass. Meanwhile, three houses were burned, reportedly in retaliation for the attack on Williams.

Information reaching this newspaper are that the houses—two located in the squatting area and one in B Field, Sophia—which are reportedly owned by William’s assailants, may have been set alight by persons linked to Williams after the attack occurred.

It was also said that Williams’ initial attacker, who had fled the scene, had been hiding out in one of the houses.