The woman whose hand was severed by her ex-boyfriend on Christmas Eve at Number 70 Village, Corentyne, Berbice, said that her attacker was obsessed with her and she had obtained a restraining order in January after an attempted abduction.
Bhartie Udo, 23, who is currently a patient at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) said her relationship with Shamar Mohammed Ally, 40, had been marked by abuse and jealousy on his part; he had also lied to her.
Udo recounted that on Christmas Eve around 9 pm, she, her mother, and other siblings were walking along Number 70 Race Track Street, when she noticed Ally standing behind an old dragline.
“Shamar jumped out from behind the machine and put a rope over me and wrestle me to the ground. Then while [she struggled to get away] I see he take out a cutlass,” Udo explained. She said that when he fired the first chop at her, her mother jumped in and tried desperately to wrestle him away from her, but he turned on her and dealt her several chops about her body.
Udo said she could not remember much more, but noted that the next day she and her mother were transferred to the GPH.
Udo said her former lover had completely severed her left hand with one chop, fractured her right hand, and chopped her in her head and on her back and neck as well.
The young woman related to Stabroek News that last January, Ally had attempted to kidnap her from her workplace but she managed to escape. She said the matter was reported to the police and it was dealt with at a magistrate’s court. Udo said that she filed for and was granted a restraining order against him after that incident.
The woman said she had ended her relationship with Ally after she found out that he was married and had children. But after she did, he told her that he would destroy her life.
Meanwhile, Udo’s mother, Amika Udo, 42, who is also a patient at the GPH, said she sustained injuries to her neck, right hand and right finger. She related that she had tried to stop her daughter’s ex-boyfriend from continuously chopping her daughter, by pulling at his jersey. However, he turned around and started chopping her as well. The distraught mother said that one of her younger daughters also sustained a cut on her back, but it was not as serious as the wounds she and Bhartie had sustained.
Amika said that when the attack started, she had told her youngest children, who were screaming, to run, while she stayed behind to try and save her daughter’s life. The mother described the attack on her oldest child as merciless. She added that even when her daughter lay unconscious on the road the man had continued to hit her with the broad side of the cutlass. Udo’s mother said that over the years they had made several reports to the Springlands Police Station, but received no “satisfaction.” She also stated that her daughter who was a brilliant primary school teacher had quit her job in fear of the man attacking her.
Abdul Ali, the father of Bhartie and the husband of Amika Udo, who was at his wife’s bedside, told Stabroek News that he heard the screams of his family and ran towards them that night. He said he saw the attacker running through the street with the cutlass.
Ali also mentioned that Ally had once threatened him as well.
The police in Berbice have launched a manhunt for the attacker, who seems to have gone into hiding.
