Sonobia James called Stacey, a mother of two, died early yesterday morning after she was stabbed by her live-in lover during a struggle at the Red Dragon night club on Robb Street.
James, 25, of Rasville Housing Scheme sustained a wound to the neck and died while receiving treatment at the Georgetown Public Hospital.
Her alleged assailant, 19-year-old Tiffany Clarke, is in police custody. The two women shared a long-term relationship, which relatives described as “rocky”. The 19 year-old worked in the interior and had only returned to the city on Friday.
Police said in a press release they are investigating the murder which occurred around 03:15 hours. Investigations, the release said, have revealed that James and another woman were involved in an argument during which she was stabbed to her neck.
The suspect has been arrested and the murder weapon recovered by the police, the release added.
Reports reaching Stabroek News are that an argument broke out inside the club when another woman showed interest in the 19 year-old. This was around 3 am and shortly after a struggle ensued between James and her alleged assailant resulting in the younger woman reportedly pulling a knife from a bag she was carrying and stabbing James.
Clarke was taken into custody after James was pronounced dead. She telephoned her family from the police station to inform them of the murder and her ailing mother took the news hard.
James and Clarke shared an apartment at Rasville Housing Scheme and yesterday persons in the area were commenting on the relationship the two shared calling it “violent”. The news of James’s death shocked the community, but many openly stated that a tragic end was near for either woman based on how they lived. “Dem two… fight all de time and is de lil one who use to get bad blows,” a resident in the area related to Stabroek News yesterday.
James’s relatives were distraught when this newspaper visited them at a Guyhoc address where the dead woman lived up to age 16. She had been living on her own since then.
A close relative said that around 5 am a group of persons went to the house and informed her that James had been stabbed and was at the hospital. The woman, who did not want to release her name, said the details surrounding the stabbing were sketchy but was told that the two women went clubbing and were subsequently involved in an argument.
She said that at the hospital, the teen looked devastated and might not have realized the extent of the injury until the police came.
The relative admitted that she was aware of the relationship the two women shared. “I know that they have been together for some time but I don’t know how long,” she said.
She said James never discussed the relationship much because she knew “it is not the type of thing that I would condone. She [was] a big girl. She had two children. She [was] an adult but the relationship is not something that I would condone.”
The relative said even if the two women were having problems, it was not something James would confide in her about.
“I don’t think I can find words to express how I feel about this situation right now. I just have to gather as much information so that I can really understand what has happened. Nobody ain’t really saying anything to me directly. I am just hearing somebody whispering here and there,” she said.
The woman told Stabroek News that the suspect’s relatives turned up at the Rasville house claiming “losses” instead of sympathizing.
She said the teen’s relatives claimed that they wanted raw gold and $10, 000 that was in the house and she allowed them to enter to search. She said $7000 was found, but the relatives were apparently not satisfied as they wanted half of everything that was in the house.
“They claiming how they have to get half of the stuff. This is something that I don’t want to really deal with now. The woman [the teen’s mother] hasn’t even come to me and say I am sorry or nothing… all they just come asking for is stuff,” the woman said.
The relative said that as far as she knew James was unemployed. At one time, the relative took care of James’s older son who is six years old. The woman explained that last November James went and took back the child. At the time of the stabbing, the child was staying with an uncle.
The woman said that whenever James or her lover returned the child to the Guyhoc address they would stay at the gate.
The second child, also a boy, is three years old.
Troubled teen
Relatives of the young alleged attacker painted a picture of a troubled young woman when they spoke with this newspaper yesterday. Her life, they said, had been rocked by a bad relationship with an older man when she was just 13 years old and the loss of a child around the same time. She subsequently withdrew from those close to her, barely speaking to the people she lived with and then she met James.
Evelyn Clarke, who identified herself as the young woman’s mother, said her daughter changed after she met James. She said the older woman had great influence on her child and within a short period of time the girl cared only for her relationship with James. “I didn’t recognise this girl a few months after. She bald she head and all kind of things,” Clarke said.
It was not long before Clarke heard that her daughter was “going in the bush” and working to support James back in the city.
She said this news disturbed her and when she confronted her daughter about it, she was asked to stay out of the relationship. Her daughter frequented the interior and would return with gold and money; she only returned to the city on Friday last and decided go to the club with James.
According to Clarke, her daughter was the victim of domestic abuse. She said the young woman suffered years of physical violence from the older woman and that numerous marks on her body tell the story.
However, James’s relative said that she was only now hearing about the abuse.
On one occasion, the couple had a fight outside of Clarke’s home and the young woman was badly beaten and left lying in a drain. Clarke said her daughter often went and got tattoos to cover her scars. “If you see tattoos on this child skin,” Clarke added.
The young woman had seemingly lived a stable life much earlier based on testimonies from relatives and neighbours. She was a regular churchgoer who spent time learning the ways of the church, but then she stopped going when she was around 14 years old, after she picked up with James. The girl quickly moved out of her home and moved in with James shortly after they met.
Evelyn Clarke cried bitterly yesterday as she recalled her daughter’s life and how things changed. She said she last spoke with her on Friday and the two had made plans to meet yesterday.
