A woman beat her partner to death outside their Plaisance, East Coast Demerara home early yesterday morning, bringing their years of frequent arguments to a bloody end.
Neighbouring residents said that Clifford Singh, 35, called ‘Yacka,’ was beaten to death with a piece of wood and left for dead on the roadway in front of his Lot 28 Prince William Street home.
All of this took place as the couple’s 10-month-old daughter and a friend of the family slept inside the house, which is surrounded by bushes. Up to press time last evening, the woman, who is the mother of his youngest child, remained on the run.
Police said in a press release yesterday that they were investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of Singh, whose body was “found with suspected marks of violence at about 0215 hours on Prince William Street.” The release said that the police were awaiting the post-mortem examination results.
A resident recalled hearing screaming just before 2 am and when she peeped out she saw a girl on the road “beating away pon something” with a piece of wood. She said that the persons fired about six blows at whatever she was hitting. The resident stated that during the beating the woman’s cell phone rang and after answering she ran straight up the road in the direction of the Plaisance line top.
She said that when she ventured into her yard to investigate, she noticed someone lying still on the roadway. Shortly after, she and other residents noticed that it was Singh who was lying motionless on the roadway.
The resident said that Singh was lying on his back with “all he head bus away, his face smash in, he eye open and all he teeth gone. This girl prapa lash away pon this man.” It was explained that when the woman fled, she left the murder weapon behind.
Speaking about the couple’s relationship, the resident said that there were constant arguments. She explained that the woman was “a stranger” to the village and when she moved there, Singh began a relationship with her.
Stabroek News subsequently learnt that the woman had relatives living further up the street, next door to Singh’s mother. None of the woman’s relatives were home when this newspaper visited the area. “From de time they living is this fighting and this fighting with them.
We done know something woulda happen,” the resident said. She recalled that previously there was a big fight and the police were called.
“Like when they drink they does end up in this fighting,” she said, while noting that sometime during Tuesday, Singh bought a bottle of alcohol from a shop in the street.
According to the resident, it was surprising that the woman had the upper hand over Singh as “although he thin bone, he as a man always got the upper hand over she but she ain’t teking lef. She don’t tek lef.”
She said that after the police arrived, they found a man and a child sleeping in the house.
The resident said that the child was later handed over to the woman’s relatives. The man, who told Stabroek News that he was a friend of the couple, said that he was asleep when the fatal beating occurred and that he knew nothing until the police arrived and woke him up. The man recalled that earlier in the night, the suspect left to follow his girlfriend home. That would have been the last time he would have seen her.
‘She always abusing him’
Leah Singh said that she envisioned her son’s death and constantly spoke to him about the relationship he shared with the woman but he did not listen to her.
“She always abusing him but he hides it. He does say mommy is meh girlfriend,” the woman explained, while adding that she and the woman never spoke. She explained that from 2004, Singh had gone to Plaisance to “keep his friend house.” She explained that the woman lived next door to her at that time and had a visiting relationship with her son.
She said the woman is usually in the “bush” (interior) and she was always in possession of a knife. Leah said that the woman had attacked Singh before but still he did not leave her.
Asked about the reason behind the woman’s anger towards her son, Leah said that she felt it was fueled by jealousy, in the main because she cooked for her son.
Leah noted that she took care of Singh because he was her last child. “I always maintain him. If he works or if he don’t work,” she said, while noting that her son was a mason.
Singh, according to his mother, was often bullied by the woman but nevertheless she was all he thought about.
Leah last saw her son around 5 pm on Tuesday and he was bright as usual. She recalled that after he had eaten, he said, “Mommy, ah feel real different.” She learned of her son’s death yesterday morning when a girl went to her home and said that her son “lie down dead on the road. I said this is the end. I expected it. I speak to him three years. Now, I am crying, asking God, ‘What is it that he lust after this girl?’”
She added that when she arrived at the scene, she was unable to see her son’s body close up because she was advised by the police rank at the scene not to go. She said that the police have not told her what injuries Singh sustained.
Singh was also father to a 14-year-old daughter from a previous relationship.
