Ulverston man gets 20 years for murder of children’s mother

 Yansen Brusche
Yansen Brusche

An Ulverston man was yesterday sentenced to 20 years in prison, after he pleaded guilty to fatally stabbing the mother of his four children in October 2016.

Winston Benjamin, known as ‘Blood’, 45, of Lot 40 Ulverston Village, Corentyne, who was a cane harvester at the Skeldon Estate, was charged with the murder of Yansen Brusche, 38, of Lot 20 Ulverston Village, in October 2016.

Yesterday in the High Court in Berbice, where the case was being heard before Justice Brassington Reynolds, Benjamin pleaded guilty to manslaughter, following which he was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Winston Benjamin

On October 17, 2017, Brusche, who operated the canteen at the Alness Primary School, had just returned home from work and had gone to a nearby shop to purchase a few items when Benjamin caught up with her and stabbed her some five times about her body.

Beverly Green, the owner of the shop where the incident took place, had told Stabroek News that Brusche entered the shop around 1:15 pm. However, approximately one minute later, the father of her children, Benjamin, also entered the shop.

“I see when he come in, she pull to the one side,” Green said. “So when me see her move aside, I ask her what happen with ayo two and Yansen word was, ‘me weary quarrel and me weary sin me soul, God and the court will decide.’”

It was then, Green had said, that Benjamin whipped out a knife from his back pocket and started to stab Brusche about her body.

“I tried to grab him from over the counter, but after I couldn’t a reach I run around,” she explained. Risking her own life at that time, Green said she held on to Brusche for a chance for the woman to escape. “She try to go to the gate, but then the gate did close [and] she run in to me living room,” she’d recalled.

Brusche, who collapsed in Green’s living room, was rushed to the Port Mourant Public Hospital, where she was pronounced dead on arrival. 

Benjamin, who had fled the scene, was captured in the backlands of Black Bush Polder one day after the attack.