A 46-year-old clothes vendor was yesterday afternoon fatally stabbed by her husband following an argument and the man is now hospitalised in a critical condition after he subsequently tried to kill himself at the couple’s Nabaclis Sideline Dam, East Coast Demerara (ECD) home.
Dead is Vinnette Headley-James. She reportedly sustained a stab wound to her neck and died while receiving treatment at the Dr CC Nicholson Hospital.
Her husband, 55-year-old Sherlock James, called ‘Loomie’, a gold miner, was discovered lying in the backyard by the police with a wound to his throat. He remained a patient under police guard at the Georgetown Public Hospital up to press time last night.
Sherlock James
The incident occurred at around 12.50 pm at the couple’s Lot 68 Nabaclis Sideline Dam home, which they occupied with three of their eight children.
Stabroek News understands that James, who works in the interior, would normally spend long periods away from home. He returned home on Saturday and reportedly accused his wife of having an extramarital relationship.
At the time of the incident, the couple’s eldest daughter was at home. However, she was in the upper flat of the house, attending to her child. She only became aware of the deadly incident after she heard her mother crying. By that time, Headley-James had already been stabbed.
The police, in a press statement last evening, said that enquiries revealed that the couple had an argument on Sunday and James assaulted his wife and fled the scene.
He returned yesterday and an argument ensued and Headley-James was stabbed, the police added.
According to the police, the couple’s eldest daughter told detectives that Headley-James was in the process of putting her husband’s clothes in the yard for him to remove from the house.
“He (James) told her (his wife) not to do the same and threatened to kill her,” the daughter reportedly told police.
However, Headley-James continued and this reportedly caused Sherlock to become angry. As a result, he went into the kitchen, armed himself with a knife and stabbed her to the neck.
The injured woman fled to the backyard. Her daughter was alerted by her cries and rushed to her aid. She was placed into a taxi and transported to the hospital, where she died.
When Stabroek News visited the scene yesterday, family members and friends were still trying to come to grips with what had occurred, while saying the events had left them in a state of shock.
Charlene Headley, Headley-James’ sister, told this newspaper that the couple had been married for about 24 years and they are not known to have regular arguments.
She said the family was unaware of any dispute which might have led to the killing.
“These people (James and Headley-James) deh since they 13 and 14 [years]. They done married 24 years, legally married. The most what does happen in every home, well, you know, maybe is a financial problem or whatever the case may be but they don’t fight and them kind of things. They are Christians,” Charlene said.
The woman recounted that she last saw her sister on Tuesday while she was shopping in Georgetown and she was in high spirits.
She said the couple even went to church together on Sunday. “Up to yesterday (Tuesday), everything was okay but today (Wednesday), I don’t know what happen,” she said.
Prior to the incident, Charlene said she understood that James was seen chatting in the yard with his eldest daughter, while Headley-James was in the kitchen cooking.
Charlene said based on what the couple’s eldest daughter told her, James held his grandchild before he placed her down, leaving her crying.
“She said that how he (James) go upstairs and put down she baby lil too hard [so] that the baby gon cry, so she gone go upstairs and look at the baby and he come down and he and the mother [continued] with the fighting downstairs,” Charlene said.
Meanwhile, Charlene’s son, who wished not to be named, said he was present at the house prior to the incident and had noticed that James was breaking bottles in the backyard.
“Uncle was breaking bottles and when I ask he wah he going and do with that, he said was for the fowls so I left and go swim and when I come back, everything did done happen,” the man related.
