The family of Lloyda Thomas, who was brutally stabbed 20 times reportedly by her best friend, Angelique Williams on Thursday night, has disputed the version of events given by a friend of both women, citing several inconsistencies.
Stabroek News had previously reported that Thomas, 20, called ‘Renita’ of Lot 338 Sunflower Close, South Ruimveldt was stabbed with a broken bottle allegedly by Williams and that this was as a result of an argument between the two women over seating arrangements in the vehicle in which they were returning home with. The friend who related this sequence of events and gave her name as Tiffany was incommunicado all day yesterday.
When this newspaper visited Thomas’s home last night, a number of family members had gathered there, including her mother, mother-in-law, other close relatives and friends.
A grief-stricken Amanda Prince, Thomas’s mother said she was looking for answers and trying to get a grip of what had transpired. The woman related to this newspaper that there are so many questions as regards what happened, but she has received no answers.
Relatives said that Thomas’s one year old child was with her at the time of her murder and had been pitched out of her arms. They said the child sustained a minor injury to the head, but is now doing fine. Thomas was pregnant with her second child.
Prince said that when she went to the West Demerara Regional Hospital (WDRH) on the night of the incident, she saw her daughter on a hospital bed dressed in only a brown-coloured swimsuit. She said she was puzzled by that but more so by the fact that there was not a trace of blood on her daughter’s body. It was just the stab wounds that were visible. She said she wants to know what exactly caused her daughter’s death, what time it happened, who did it and where it happened.
She said the family had been hearing various stories told by different friends of Thomas, which are probably not true and which she is not prepared to accept. Prince said she believes the murder occurred at the Aracari Resort, was a well-planned one and that other friends who were present played a part.
She said when she along with other relatives visited the resort the day after the incident, persons there were busily cleaning around the poolside; she said they were acting suspiciously. When Stabroek News visited the resort on Friday, the General Manager had denied that any stabbing had occurred there but accepted that the girls were “sporting” at the poolside of the resort. She had said that from what she heard the incident took place right after they departed.
Family members doubted that Thomas would have left the resort in just her swimsuit. They said too that a bag containing clothing and a towel belonging to Thomas was returned to the relatives at the hospital and it was just the towel that showed some indication of blood, but it appeared like someone had tried unsuccessfully to wash it out.
Prince said she could not understand why only one person was held adding that the police should have held everyone for questioning. She said she was told there were some ten friends present and wondered that no one made any attempt to part the fight between the two girls, nor has anyone come forward to say exactly what transpired.
Relatives have been digging for clues which may lead them to the truth, while their suspicions keep rising. They said Thomas and Williams knew each other since the tender age of six and Williams grew up in the same home with Thomas where she was also treated like a daughter by Prince.
