A policewoman was yesterday chopped to death in her Number 30 Village, West Coast Berbice home and her attacker, a neighbour whom she had grown up with, later hanged himself, leaving unanswered questions about what led to the grisly murder.
Now dead is Police Sergeant #19467 Kenisha Sheriff-Fraser, 39, of Lot 370 Number 30 Village, West Coast Berbice, and her assailant, Clayton Anthony, also known as ‘Woody,’ 42, a pork knocker, who lived at the same address.
Sheriff-Fraser was found by neighbours with several chop wounds about her body, which was naked on the floor of her room, while Anthony was spotted fleeing the scene. About an hour after the horrific attack, his body was found hanging on a tree on the seaside of the village.
Stabroek News was told that the two may have been involved in a relationship for a while.
Sheriff-Fraser, a mother of three children ages 18, 11 and 5, was stationed at the Registry of the Central Police Station in New Amsterdam.
According to residents, sometime around 9 am yesterday, they heard screams coming from her home. Sheriff-Fraser and members of her family occupied the top flat of the house, while Anthony occupied the bottom flat.
One neighbour said that he did not suspect the worst initially but the “screams” and “crying” continued. As a result, a neighbour rushed over to the house and she spotted Anthony running out of a room. He reportedly picked up a rope and then ran out of the house.
The neighbour then entered the room Anthony had initially exited and discovered Fraser’s mutilated body. This newspaper was told that Sheriff-Fraser’s wounds included a laceration to her neck, two chop wounds on her left hand, one on her left breast, two on her face and a chop wound, said to be the largest, on her chest. She also sustained several other minor chop wounds about her body. It was also noted that the suspected murder weapon, a cutlass, was found clutched in her left arm.
Sheriff-Fraser’s son, Rinson Rose, 18, told Stabroek News that he was at work when he heard around 9.30 am that his mother had been murdered. “I reach here and saw a whole lot a people and I ran straight into the bedroom and she was covered with a sheet,” Rose said.
He noted that he broke into tears as he could not believe that his “kindhearted mother” was lying with chop wounds about her body in front of him. He noted that relatives had to remove him from the bedroom.
Rose further told this newspaper that he, his mother, grandmother and two younger siblings have been residing on the upper flat of the house, while Anthony lived alone in the lower flat.
According to Rose, Anthony and his mother grew up together and as a result he was puzzled as to what could have prompted him to launch such a vicious attack on his mother.
He did recall that on Tuesday afternoon when he came home from work, his mother left hurriedly to go “down the road to town [Georgetown].” “I can’t say if them had issues. I just ask her what happened, she didn’t answer, she left and came back the same night. I didn’t really make a fuss about it, went to bed, same process next day, back to work,” he said. “I came home 9 [am] next day because I had to open a bank account and she say she going back to town. I said alright and tell her to call me when she meet,” he added.
Rose recalled that yesterday morning, as he was on his way to work, he asked his mother if she was heading anywhere. “She said that no, she’s not going nowhere,” he said. He added that yesterday morning his mother messaged him and asked if he had her phone. “I said no. I call the phone and she said she find it by the chair and she said ‘Have a nice day’ and that’s the last time we talk,” he said.
Rose also told this newspaper that years ago Anthony had brutally stabbed his wife after an argument between the two. According to Rose, the woman survived though she was badly injured.
Rose said his mother loved her job. She was known as a nice, humble, and always friendly police officer. She was well respected and liked by her colleagues.
