A Mahaicony septuagenarian is now dead after being battered to death and police say her son, at whose hands she reportedly suffered years of abuse, has confessed to the crime.
Cecelia Madray, also known as “Suzy,” 75, of Lot 2 Good Faith, Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara, was found in her home on Thursday evening.
Her son, Terrence Madray, was subsequently arrested and police say he confessed to beating her with a chair.
The woman was discovered dead in her home around 8pm on Thursday by members of the Community Policy Group (CPG), who visited the house to check on her after receiving reports of a commotion.
Her body, which was on a mattress on the floor covered with a mosquito net, bore several marks of violence: there was a gaping wound to her head and she was bleeding through her ears.
Stabroek News was told that Madray had been involved in an accident two years ago that resulted in her being bedridden. This was shortly after she was forced to return to Guyana to live, because her daughter, with whom she had resided in the United States, had passed away.
Her son, police sources say, told police investigators that he was the only one taking care of his mother since she fell ill and on Monday morning he woke up and was still under the influence of alcohol when he went into her bedroom and she told him something that made him feel bad.
As a result, he took a chair and dealt her a blow to the back of her head. According to him, she did not die immediately, but expired on Thursday around 2 am.
A post-mortem examination performed on the remains of Madray yesterday revealed that she died as a result of blunt trauma to the head, a fractured skull and brain haemorrhage.
When this newspaper visited the area yesterday, a neighbour said she used to prepare meals for the now dead woman and her son on a daily basis. According to the neighbour, for years Madray had been subject to physical abuse from her son, mostly when he wanted money to buy drugs.
The neighbour said he would sell whatever he could to buy drugs.
Neighbours reported that the man had once dragged his mother out her house and informed the neighbours that he had assaulted her.
A report was made and he was taken into custody at the Mahaicony Police Station. He was held for a few days and then released after his mother refused to provide investigators with a statement.
A resident said he had received a call on Monday from someone who informed him that the woman was being beaten by her son and was heard screaming for “help.” The man said he immediately went to the house where the suspect, who was sitting on the stairs, informed him that Madray had died.
The resident said he entered the house and saw Madray lying on the mattress with her head entangled in the net; it was restricting her breathing. He said he untangled her, but she did not relate anything to him and she appeared well, so he left, though he suspected that her son had in fact beaten her once again.
There has been an increase in the number of women being killed as a result of domestic violence over the past few months. However, in most of these cases, the victims suffered at the hands of their partners.
