Before taking her final breath, an Amelia’s Ward mother of five yesterday wrote in sand that it was her husband who had fatally stabbed her and he was later held by police, who shot him when they cornered him in a wooded area.
Dead is Shanika Elliott nee London, 37, a clothes vendor of Lot 1206 Central Amelia’s Ward, Mackenzie, Linden.
She sustained several stab wounds about her body, including to her neck, shoulders, and ribs, and she was rushed to the Mackenzie Hospital, where she was pronounced dead on arrival.
The murder occurred around 10.30 am.
Commander of ‘E’ Division Fazil Karimbaksh confirmed that the suspect, who has been identified as Mike London, 35, a porknocker, was arrested around 4.45 pm in the woods at Moblissa, Soesdyke/Linden Highway. He had fled Amelia’s Ward after the fatal attack on Elliot. As a result, police surrounded the area and cornered him. The police say that London then violently attacked ranks and was shot once in his leg. He was taken to the hospital, where his condition was listed as stable.
A blood-stained knife, suspected to be the murder weapon, was recovered at the scene.
The police, in a press release, said that following the attack, Shanika, who was drenched in blood, ran across to her neighbour for assistance but later collapsed outside the yard. An alarm was raised and she was rushed to the hospital where she subsequently died.
According to reports reaching this newspaper, after rushing to her neighbour for assistance, Shanika traced the words “my husband” in the sand and then collapsed.
The death of the woman has left her family and the mining town of Linden in a state of shock.
Stabroek News was told that when investigators visited the woman’s house, blood was observed on a mattress and on the bedroom floor. A cell phone was also recovered on the bed.
‘Not to tell anyone’
Several persons told Stabroek News that the suspect was a jealous man and had accused Shanika of having extramarital relations.
This often led to domestic problems between the couple. They had been together for four years.
The dead woman’s eldest child, Dimitri Adams, told Stabroek News that he was attending classes at the Linden Technical Institute when he received a call from his aunt, who informed him about what had transpired. “My aunty call and tell me my step-father [the suspect] chop my mother and she deh bad at the hospital and before I reach there she did done dead,” he said.
Adams said that his mother was in an abusive relationship with the suspect and whenever he and his siblings attempted to report the attacks to the police, she would plead with them not to.
“Several times before this he hit my mother, but she does beg me not to tell anyone but I does confront my other siblings and so and every time we mention that we going and report to the police she would beg us not to,” he said. “One time he hit my mother and I had to defend her,” he added. Shanika is the sister of popular radio deejay Akeelo Elliott, who said that he was at work when he received a call from a friend informing him of the incident. “About five minutes after I got a call back and heard she died,” Akeelo said. He said he immediately left George-town and travelled to Linden to offer his support to his family.
Shanika is survived by her five children and siblings. Her body is presently at the Mackenzie Hospital’s mortuary awaiting an autopsy.
