A woman is now hospitalised in a critical state after she was stabbed multiple times by her son-in-law, who also stabbed her daughter and battered her five-year-old grandchild in an unprovoked attack early yesterday morning.
Following the bizarre attack, Julian Sargeant, 36, a construction worker, reportedly stole a car in a bid to escape but he was subsequently apprehended by the police after he was involved in accident.
Up to press time last night, Lorraine McBeth, 55, of Lot 56 Peters Hall, East Bank Demerara, was under observation at the Georgetown Public Hospital in a critical condition. Her daughter and Sargeant’s common-law-wife, Tiffany Mc Beth, 18, and her granddaughter, Nathania Browne, were both also treated at the hospital before being discharged. The child was punched in the face, resulting in her losing two teeth.
The attack occurred around 2 am yesterday at the Success, East Coast Demerara home, which Sargeant shares with Tiffany.
Divisional Commander Leslie James said based on reports received, Lorraine was awakened by loud sounds and upon investigating she learnt that the man had dealt Browne a punch. As a result, she sought to enquire why he struck the child and the man armed himself with a knife and started to stab her. Tiffany intervened and she too was attacked.
At the hospital yesterday, Tiffany related a different account to Sunday Stabroek and highlighted the unresponsiveness of the police to her request for help after the attack.
The young woman noted that she and Sargeant have been in a common-law relationship for the past year and they have been living together at Success.
She said her mother and her niece were visiting at the time of the attack.
According to Tiffany, on Friday evening, they were all “laughing and talking” before eventually retiring to bed around 10 pm.
Tiffany said she, Sargeant and Browne were sleeping together on a bed, while Lorraine was in a hammock. The young woman said she awakened to Sargeant choking her. “We didn’t had no situation and he wake up, he hold my throat first and I cuff he to see if he was dreaming but then after I see he take the cuff, he continue still and I started to scream out and he hold on to the baby (Browne),” she recalled.
She said her screams alerted her mother and they both tried to save Browne, who was being hit by the man. “She (Lorraine) jump up and we both… I hold him on his neck and choke him and she grabbed him and that’s how come he loose [Browne] and when he loose that’s how come he grabbed the knife,” she said.
According to Tiffany, the suspect grabbed a knife from the kitchen and started to stab her and her mother continuously. “After the knife break, he loose the knife and he start cuffing we,” she added.
While all this was happening, Browne was on the bed crying. “And eventually, mommy get up, she escape from the punching and she went and pick up a pot to lash him and when he see that he run out [the house]. We don’t know where he went or what happen. But after that we just lock in the door and put on the light because the place was pitch dark,” she further recalled.
Call for help went unanswered
Meanwhile, Tiffany said after Sargeant fled, she contacted the police via the 911 emergency system but her calls for help were ignored. “The police turn us down. I call 911 first. 911 turn me down. When I called and said ‘we need help now, now, now,’ they put the phone down. The female blam the phone down on me,” she said.
Tiffany explained that she was forced to call her brother, who is a member of the Guyana Police Force, and he called Police Headquarters, which sent a patrol to them.
She said after the police arrived, they immediately transported them to the hospital.
Tiffany was not sure what might have prompted Sargeant’s actions. “My mother was by me whole week me and this boy had no problem. Last night, we laugh, we gaff and all he tell we is that people in the village planning fuh do he something. And I tell he that is not so and he should take the negativity away from him and he agreed and we was ready fuh sleep cause he had to work and my mother was to go home later,” she noted.
“We just wake up just like that out of shock and he start doing all these things just that like,” she said.
According to her, the do not have any issues that might have resulted in the attack. “To be honest I never expect this from Julian,” she said.
Tiffany points to the stitches she received for two of the stab wounds she sustained.
