A 26-year-old Grove man was pronounced dead on arrival at the Diamond Diagnostic Centre yesterday after he was allegedly stabbed by another tenant of a two-story house.
Dexter Manning of 39 First Street, Grove, East Bank Demerara allegedly sustained two stab wounds to his left side during a confrontation with the tenant.
The police, in a press statement issued last evening, said they are investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of Manning who was fatally stabbed at about 2.10pm yesterday.
Investigations, the police said, have so far revealed that Manning, who lives in the lower flat of a two- storey building, had an argument with a man and a woman who reside in the upper flat. The argument pertained to the supply of water and electricity.
It is alleged that Dexter Manning subsequently armed himself with a cutlass and a knife and went to the upper flat where he kicked down the door, entered the building and attacked the man. According to the police, a scuffle ensued between them during which he was stabbed about his body and succumbed to the injuries sustained.
The suspect has been arrested and is in police custody assisting with the investigations.
When Stabroek News visited Manning’s home his reputed wife, 20-year-old Sonia Hernandez, explained that she suffers from “fits” (seizures) and had an attack yesterday morning. The woman, who lives in the upper flat, Hernandez said, was present and rendered no assistance.
“After I get de attack and de ain’t make no effort to help me my husband start to fret,” the distressed woman explained. “Last night (Thursday) we had some problems about the lights and he start to quarrel about that as well.”
The couple, according to Hernandez, began verbally abusing her husband and the argument became “more heated”. Hernandez reported that she managed to convince Manning to come into their lower flat apartment to “cool off” but the couple continued to provoke him.
“He (Manning) pick up a cutlass and went outside but I didn’t follow him,” the widow said. “From the sounds I could tell he run up the front stairs but I didn’t see him take a knife with him.”
According to Hernandez, after hearing a “whole lot of noise” she ran outside to investigate and saw her husband leaning over the railing of the top platform of the front stairs and the couple was holding him.
“I see de blood and I start to scream…I run upstairs and hold he and then a friend come and help me lift him downstairs,” Hernandez said.
According to the woman, Manning had a wound just beneath his left arm and a larger wound farther down. Hernandez told Stabroek News that “something was hanging out” of the larger wound and Manning “de already going”.
The man was immediately rushed to the Diamond Diagnostic Centre with the assistance of a neighbour who owns a bus, Hernandez said, but it was too late.
“When we get to the hospital they tell we that he dead…I think he de done dead since home here because when I see on the platform he de done slumping forward,” she explained.
Hernandez told this newspaper that the police recovered two knives from the scene. According to her, one of the knives belonged to the couple and it was that knife which was covered in blood. The police, she said, retrieved both weapons.
Manning was the father of two minor children and also leaves to mourn his mother. Hernandez said that she and the man had been together for five years. The Lot 39 First Street house belongs to Manning’s mother, the widow reported.
Meanwhile, speaking on the condition of anonymity, the wife of the suspect told Stabroek News that the event was unfortunate since the two families enjoyed a healthy relationship. She explained that in the three years that she and her husband had lived there, the two couples got along well and never had any major disputes.
However, the woman explained that she and Manning had recently had a misunderstanding over a non-working light in the house and that there was a bit of uneasiness between the two. She said that things took a turn for the worse yesterday afternoon when Manning found his wife in the yard suffering from fits and accused her (the female tenant) of not coming to help his wife. She stated that when she denied doing this an even bigger argument ensured.
She said that the angry man armed himself with a knife and cutlass and ran upstairs and kicked down the door and broke a glass. She stated that when the man entered the house he fired a chop at her husband who was in the home at the time. According to the woman, her husband grabbed Manning’s arms to prevent him from hurting anyone. The tenant explained that while the man was restrained Manning’s wife and another friend who was in the yard at the time rushed up stairs and took away the weapons from Manning.
The woman said that Manning was taken downstairs by his wife and friend, when she heard the man’s wife shouting out that he was bleeding. According to the woman she rushed downstairs and saw that Manning had a wound and she said that she grabbed her sheet off the line and wrapped the injured man, who was then taken to the Diamond Diagnostic Centre. She said that she was surprised to hear that the man had died.
The female tenant said that she did not know how Manning was injured since at no time did her husband chop the man, all he did “was hug him”, she told Stabroek News.
