…Aunt Irene on mission to provide whatever she can
Thirteen-year-old Kerry Edwards of Angoy’s Avenue, New Amsterdam would never enjoy Christmas again because her mother, Gertrude Benn, 31, who made it special for her was brutally murdered at Ithaca, West Bank Berbice on May 8.
The alleged attacker, Gladstone Williamson, Gertrude’s former reputed husband also attempted to murder Kerry and her cousin, 16-year-old Samantha Charles by slashing their necks.
While Kerry is happy that the man spared her two younger siblings, Gladstone Jnr, 6, and five-year-old Althea Williamson, both his children whom he shared with Gertrude, she is sad that she has been separated from them especially around this time.
This is the first year that Kerry would be spending
Christmas without her mother and her siblings who are now living with Williamson’s mother Brenda Williamson at Ituni, Berbice River.
Kerry and Samantha moved in with Gertrude’s sister, 27-year-old Irene Benn-Anthony, after they were discharged from hospital even though she was struggling with her four children; Haffisha 13; Sabrina, 10; Jamal
6 and four-year-old Shania.
A kitchen assistant at a Chinese Restaurant in NA, Irene said she works “very hard” to maintain them with her meagre income. Irene said she used to receive public assistance for two of her children but that was stopped because she is earning an income.
She recently got married to Shania’s father but said he too earns a small wage as a labourer at the sugar estate.
Irene told Stabroek News that Kerry, who attends the Berbice High School and her siblings as well as Samantha were accustomed to Gertrude taking them out for the holidays and purchasing new clothing for them.
She said Gertrude also used to “dress up her house and bake and cook fancy food but I cannot afford to do that. Gertrude even used to take care of me; she used to help me out. Now she is gone and I have no one to help me…,” she lamented.
Besides, Irene said she is busy working and trying to make ends meet so she is not getting to spend enough time with the children.
She is also not happy with her job and wants to “upgrade myself and go to a private school or to the NATI [New Amsterdam Technical Institute] for one year so I can earn more. It’s hard but I cannot depend on anyone to help me,” she said.
While she is not able to provide the children with a lot Irene said “the least I can do is send them to school and give them something to eat. I want them to have good jobs when they grow up so they can be independent and make me proud.”
Her one-bedroom house is barely enough to accommodate two beds, one of which is shared by her four children and Kerry. Although it is inconvenient for all of the children to sleep on the same bed Irene said “what ah gon do; ah have to try….” She is hoping that one day she would be able to extend the house.”
Despite her house being small and her financial status not secure, she had accepted the two girls with open arms as no other family member was in a position to look after them. Samantha has now gone to live with other relatives.
After an article was published in this newspaper about Irene and the children many persons offered to help. So far she has received help from an elderly man who sent $40,000 through Western Union.
The money was used to purchase a bicycle for Kerry to ride to school daily and to purchase groceries and clothing for the children to attend church.
According to her, “The money went a far way; it did a lot for the children. I want to thank the gentleman for his kindness and to let him know that the money was put to good use and may God bless him.”
Meanwhile, the wounds on the girls’ necks are healing and although they experience pain at times, they are moving on with their lives. They are relieved that the alleged attacker is behind bars.
Williamson who had gone into hiding was arrested a few days later and charged with murder and two counts of attempted murder. At the time of the attack, the girls were asleep along with Gladstone Jnr, and Althea.
After stabbing Gertrude several times and cutting her throat, the attacker slashed Kerry and Samantha’s necks, but left the two younger children unharmed.
Kerry had told this newspaper that on the night her mother was murdered, she was awakened by her assailant pressing against her foot which was hanging off the bed.
She sat up and then realized that the attacker had her mother pressed down on the floor and was “cutting she neck. Then I shake him and told him to come off my mother; don’t kill she.”
With that, she said, he turned, grabbed her and “start to cut me neck.
Samantha woke up at the same time and he cut she neck too and then he run away.” She said it was when the attacker turned his attention to her and Samantha that her mother seized the opportunity to run out of the house.
Shortly after the man left, Kerry said, her mother returned “holding her neck and trying to tell we something but she couldn’t talk. She run out back the house and that was the last we saw her alive.”
Edwards went to a neighbour’s house obliquely opposite where she collapsed and died.
The girls said that at first they did not realize that they were so badly slashed and then they started to feel the pain.
Gertrude, a vendor at the New Amsterdam stelling had moved out of her Angoy’s Avenue, home in October last year, to escape abuse at the hands of her reputed husband.
Kerry told this newspaper that she still grieves for her mother and would still cry for her but is grateful that her aunt Irene is trying her best to make her happy.
Anyone wishing to help can contact Irene Benn-Anthony at 685-1448.
