…relatives express shock in fatal stabbing of East La Penitence woman
A rocky relationship spanning over half a decade came to an end on Sunday when a 34-year-old security guard fatally stabbed his reputed wife at their Freeman Street, East La Penitence home.
Dead is 24-year-old Shenece Lawrence. According to the Police, the incident occurred at about 11:30h. Lawrence’s body was discovered in their Lot 272, Freeman Street home with a knife stuck in the neck.
After committing the act, Lawrence’s reputed husband, Guyana Oil Company (GuyOil) security guard Jermaine Bristol, walked into the East La Penitence Police Station, located just a stone’s throw away from the couple’s home, and reported the crime. He was the one who led the Police to the body, and he has since been taken into custody to assist with investigations.
Bristol’s aunt, Yvonne Morris, told Guyana Times International she had last seen the couple at sometime between 10:00h and 10:30h, when they both visited her home at different intervals. She said that although her nephew was not a violent person, the duo had had a turbulent relationship, with constant intense arguments being featured.
“She used to live with him, and one morning he came and said that she is not there anymore; that she gone. But they went to church (last) Sunday, and I don’t know what is the problem. This morning (Wednesday) she came and asked me for him, and I told her he (had been) by me and he went home back; and she gave me a number to call him, and when I called, the phone went to voicemail. He called back, and he asked where she is, and I said she gone,” the woman related.
Morris said she later learnt from her grandchildren that Lawrence did not leave the area, but had rather ventured to the Freeman Street home, and while she was there the incident occurred.
“Next thing I know, about an hour after, my grandchildren called me and said, ‘Look Jermaine and a vanload of Police in the yard,’ and I try to find out what happened, and then I hear that Shenece dead. I don’t know what went wrong; I don’t know,” Morris informed.
The woman said her nephew informed her that Lawrence had left the home sometime on Thursday last, but did not give a reason as to why she had so done. She said the couple had been together for over five years, but has no children together. They recently moved into the area after moving from Lawrence’s mother’s home in Broad Street, Georgetown.
“After he done do what he do, he went to Police station and hand himself in. I don’t know what make he do that, or what get in to he; but he was not violent at all. They used to have their arguments and so, but I never know he hit she,” the woman said amidst sobs.
At the scene, a large crowd of neighbours and passersby gathered with the common comment being disbelief that Bristol would do such a thing. When Lawrence’s mother, Nicola Lawrence, arrived on the scene, she immediately fell to the ground and had to be lifted away. A few minutes later, the undertakers arrived, and Lawrence’s brother, Ryan Lawrence, was asked to identify the body; but as he ventured into the yard and saw the condition of his sister, the man fled the scene immediately.
Lawrence’s body was removed, and is now at the Lyken’s Funeral Parlour awaiting a post mortem examination.
Over at the Lawrence home in Broad Street, Georgetown, this publication spoke to one of the dead woman’s brothers, and he explained that Bristol was “stupidy”, since the duo would fight ever so often. He described his sister as a “good girl”, and expressed disbelief at Bristol’s actions.
Meanwhile, neighbours recounted one incident in which Bristol and Lawrence had been at a hotel in the city and he had begun to abuse her, resulting in her fleeing the location stark naked. That incident was reported to the Police, but it is unclear whether the matter had been investigated.
Lawrence left Bristol’s home on Thursday and moved back to her mother’s, but according to her mother, her daughter only slept by her.
“She came back on Thursday and would sleep and change and go to her work. She worked at the Hicksville Hotel,” she said.
The distraught woman said she is aware that the duo had issues, and she said her daughter had informed her that she was planning to move back home; but she maintained that the couple had not been fully separated as yet.
First Lady Sandra Granger had in March said that instances of domestic violence had increased some 14.2 per cent in the past six years, and had added that this societal scourge has become banal in Guyana. According to the First Lady, reported incidents of domestic violence by an intimate or previously intimate partner had risen from 74.8 per cent in 2011 to 89 per cent in 2017, with females accounting for an upward 80 per cent of the victims. (Lakhram Bhagirat)
