A former soldier is now wanted by the police after he stabbed his girlfriend and her mother in an attack at his Paradise, East Coast Demerara home on Tuesday night.
The attack carried out by James Rodwell Cadogan, also known as ‘Roddy,’ has left 24-year-old Zenida April, who is a serving Guyana Defence Force (GDF) member, hospitalised.
Up to press time Cadogan was still to be apprehended and was continuing to send threats to the young’s woman’s family, telling them that if she survived the attack he would end her life.
Nevorne April, the mother of Zenida, told Stabroek News that the couple had been living together at the man’s Paradise home. However, after an argument on Monday evening, he reportedly threatened to stab the young woman, prompting her to go to her mother’s Georgetown residence.
The following day, Nevorne related, Zenida along with her brother and cousin decided to go to collect her clothing from Cadogan’s Paradise home. Acting on advice, she made a report to the Vigilance Police Station but there was no rank available to accompany her to Cadogan’s residence to gather her belongings. Nevorne said Zenida also visited the Enmore Police Station and was also told there that there was no one to accompany her. As a result, she decided to go without the police escort.
Zenida, accompanied by her mother, brother and a cousin, went to Cadogan’s home, where the man was present. She and her mother proceeded into the house to pack her things while the brother and cousin were waiting for them outside. Nevorne said while she was assisting her daughter in the bedroom, Cadogan entered and picked up a bottle of methylated spirits, which he later attempted to drink. Zenida, however, snatched the bottle from him and the man then left the room and locked the front door to the house, thereby preventing the others from entering the house.
Nevorne said the man then rushed into the bedroom with a knife and began stabbing Zenida, saying “Yuh think anybody else gun get yuh? Yuh lie! I tell you I’m not leaving you!” The mother stated that while James started stabbing her daughter, she screamed for her son while Zenida ran to her, resulting in a scuffle during which she was also stabbed. The brother, after hearing the scream, decided to break the window to gain entry into the house, while Cadogan open the door and fled.
Both Zenida and her mother were taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital. The young woman was stabbed eight times about her body, including to her neck, chest, arms and back, while her mother was stabbed once to the shoulder. The mother was treated for the injury and discharged.
The woman’s family is now fearful as they said the police have appeared hesitant about apprehending the man. At the same time, Nevorne has been receiving voice notes from him. “…Yuh daughter got fuh dead because she wicked…,” he said in one of them shared with this newspaper. “I promise you when yuh feel all is well watch meh or watch fuh hear she in pain cas the next time y’all won’t be lucky. The next time it won’t be so lucky fuh y’all save she. And I gun tell yuh this one I gon hunt she like how police hunt thief, yuh gon see. Me ain telling she nothing. Let she recover, she going to the dirt me ah start save she burial money ah promise yuh that,” he warned in another.
