Police have arrested a man who they say admitted to battering an elderly woman and cutting a part of her tongue off during an attack at Stanleytown, West Bank Demerara, in late July.
Magon Jones, also known as “Aunty Jean,” 68, who lived in the village, succumbed to her injuries after three days at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH), but not before she wrote a note recounting the attack and identifying her killer.
Jones, who was a mother of seven, was laid to rest yesterday.
Her death sent shockwaves throughout the Stanleytown community and her family. According to Jones’ family, she was mentally unstable after suffering a mental breakdown a few years ago.
Meanwhile, this newspaper was told that the suspect is a drug addict.
The police said Jones was found on the access road to the Vreed-en-Hoop Jetty, West Coast Demerara (WCD), with part of her tongue missing and other injuries to her body on July 22. She was admitted to the GPH, where she subsequently succumbed on July 25.
However, according to the statement, at that time she was unidentified. Following her identification, a post-mortem examination was conducted by pathologist Dr. Nehaul Singh, who gave the cause of death as multiple injuries about the body and blunt trauma to the head.
Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum told Stabroek News that following the post-mortem examination two persons were taken into custody, but one was released after the prime suspect, Stanley Barrow, gave a confession in which he said he acted alone.
Blanhum said Barrow stated that he and Jones were having sex in the Vreed-en-Hoop Jetty area, when she started to complain of experiencing pain. As a result, the man has told police that he became annoyed and started to cuff her about her body. He also admitted to taking a knife and cutting off a part of her tongue, Blanhum added.
Speaking to Stabroek News from her Stanleytown home, Shellon (only name given), a niece of Jones, related that prior to the attack her aunt had only recently returned from Bartica, where she had been residing with her son.
She said Jones was well-known to the community for walking the streets and entertaining villagers by singing various tunes for them.
She explained that Jones had suffered a mental breakdown a few years ago after a divorce and other family problems.
Shellon recalled seeing her aunt on the morning of July 22, two days after she had celebrated her 68th birthday. Jones, she said, usually visited and then left as she liked.
However, according to Shellon, on the last day she saw her alive, Jones indicated that she was leaving to visit the West Demerara Regional Hospital because she was not feeling well. However, she never reached the hospital.
Later that same evening, a Vreed-en-Hoop resident, who knows Jones’ family, visited and informed Shellon and other relatives that the woman was found naked and that she had been hospitalised.
Although the family attempted to find Jones at the hospital, Shellon said they were initially unsuccessful. They later learnt that when the woman was admitted she provided officials with a different name. However, the family eventually managed to locate Jones before her death.
Grieving relatives said when they visited Jones they noticed several marks of violence about her body and her face was completely swollen. She was also unable to walk.
Despite her condition, Shellon said, Jones, who was described as a good writer, wrote a note relating what transpired on the night of the attack and gave it to the person who took her to the hospital to share with her family. In the note, the niece said, the woman described the person who committed the act, which assisted the police in locating him.
Although Jones had set out for the hospital with some amount of cash, her family does not believe robbery was the motive for the attack.
Family members said the suspect was known to the family for committing similar acts.
