An unidentified man was killed last evening in Tiger Bay by a mentally-unstable youth, who stabbed him over 40 times in a fit of rage.
The only names given for the deceased were “Red Cap” and “Rasta man” and he is said to be originally from Bartica.
Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum confirmed to Stabroek News that the suspect, who has been identified as Christopher Stanley, was in police custody last evening. The youth had minor injuries about his body, which Blanhum said could have been sustained as he fled. He was taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital for medical attention.
According to Blanhum, detectives recovered the suspected murder weapon—a knife—from under a bed in the suspect’s home. Blood was also found in the bathroom, he said.
Earlier in the day, Stabroek News was told, Stanley was seen sharpening a knife, which is believed to be the murder weapon. Minutes before the brutal attack, Stanley attacked another man and chopped him in his head.
Eyewitnesses said they looked on helplessly as the enraged Stanley stabbed his victim. The crime scene is located in the midst of a maze of shacks in the community. An alleyway made of pieces of old boards links the murder scene to the suspect’s home, which is a small shack made of pieces of zinc.
One witness said he spoke with “Rasta Man” shortly before the attack.
He left for a nearby shop, from where he heard hollering. When he ran back to Rasta man’s shack, he opened the door and all he saw was “blood spilling and he just juking Rasta man.”
The man said that he then ran outside and raised an alarm.
A woman related that one of her relatives heard the man hollering, “No! No! How yah gun do this?”
After committing the attack, Stanley ran home, where it is believed that he tried to wash off the blood. He subsequently ran across the road to the nearby fisheries business. An off-duty policeman, who was passing at the same time, took Stanley into custody.
The woman said on Friday Stanley asked his mother for water but instead of drinking that he drank water from a nearby gutter. “My uncle see he deh walking round and round de yard and then me uncle se he go and sharpen a knife but people ain’t follow he, they just been watching them,” she added.
A 15-year-old girl, who occasionally shared the shack with “Rasta Man,” insisted that the two men had no issues and she was adamant that the stabbing resulted from Stanley “tripping out.”
At the time of the stabbing, she was sleeping at a friend’s when she heard her aunt hollering. The teen later went to the man’s shack. He wasn’t moving when she arrived. She said when she turned him over, she saw two holes in his chest and another wound on his shoulder. “I just deh watching Rasta man and turning he over hollering why yuh do meh this,” she said.
Stanley had attacked another man, identified as Wayne Rogers, called “Not Nice,” prior to the stabbing.
The man told reporters that Stanley approached him and before he could react he got “one chap to meh head.” He said based on the state that Stanley was in, he concluded that he was having an episode. “Up to now me still feeling this skull headache,” he said.
Episodes
Stanley’s brother, Junior, told this newspaper that the man started having “tripping episodes” about six months ago but refused to go to the hospital for treatment. He recalled seeing his brother around 4.30 pm, moments after he woke up. “He ain’t look nothing like he gon do nothing like dat,” he said, before adding that about an hour later he was seen sharpening a knife.
The man’s mother, Sonia Stanley, told Stabroek News at the Georgetown Hospital that from the time she saw her son drink water from a gutter, she knew that he had tripped out.
“I don’t know what goin on,” she sobbed before adding that despite her pleas, persons in the area continued to sell marijuana to her son. She said that every time he used the drug he got worse and he was adamant that is what led to her son’s episodes.
She said when he was younger he fell a lot and hit his head and she believed his marijuana use may have made things worse. “The weed that they selling the boy mek he deh tripping more bad. I tell them don’t sell he it and they still selling it,” she wept.
According to Sonia, although she wanted to, she could not bring her son to live with her.
The woman said she could not comprehend what could have led to the stabbing. “They gon talk all kina thing because leh meh tell yuh the truth, he don’t talk to no body. Not because is me son I picking up for he. He don’t have no friend, suh where he getting knife fuh sharpen from? I move my knife and everything at meh work place. I does cook and everything deh,” she said.
According to the mother, Stanley and his brother had made many “knife jokes” before and never once was anyone injured. “Now you gon go and kill somebody now. Son, you realise is done your life done. You is just 19. You want to see meh drop down and dead,” she wailed loudly and attracted the attention of those standing about in the hospital compound.
Meanwhile, “Rasta man” was known to be the watchman for cars parked outside of the nearby New Thriving Restaurant on Main Street. He was said to have celebrated his 49th birthday only one day earlier.
He was described as a helpful member of the community. “That man is a nice man… when he got thing he does call you and share with yuh… you could call he to do anything. He is not no disrespectful smoke man,” a woman said as she remembered the times she spent with him.
