Vanessa Benjamin, the 21-year-old Ithaca Village, West Bank Berbice woman who was killed on Thursday afternoon, was stabbed over 15 times, her family said yesterday.
The alleged assailant, Jamal Angus, who is her former partner, is hospitalised after he reportedly turned the knife on himself following the fatal attack.
Benjamin, of Lot 301 Ithaca Village, was a cleaner at a daycare centre. Benjamin was rushed to the Fort Wellington Hospital, where she was pronounced dead on arrival sometime around 6pm on Thursday. “She get stab on her back, face, stomach and even in she hands cut like she try to hold the knife,” said Verlinda, a cousin who was one of the persons that rushed Benjamin to the hospital.
Following the attack, Angus, 24, reportedly stabbed himself once in the chest area. He remains hospitalised at the New Amsterdam Public Hospital and is in a stable condition.
Benjamin’s mother, Debra Anibal, 52, was also rushed to the New Amsterdam Public Hospital after she too was attacked. Anibal, who sustained a serious stab wound to her head and underneath her left breast, is presently suffering from serious internal bleeding. Her condition is listed as stable but serious.
Some three weeks ago Anibal obtained a restraining order against Angus after he had threatened to kill her daughter and himself.
A post-mortem examination is expected to be carried out on Benjamin’s body next Tuesday.
According to information gathered, Benjamin met Angus, who is originally from Number 30 Village, West Coast Berbice, over four years ago and together they have two children, ages three years and one year. However, Benjamin recently separated from Angus and returned to her mother’s house with her two children.
Stabroek News was told that on Thursday at around 5pm, Angus arrived at Anibal’s house and began arguing with Benjamin after she refused to entertain him. He then began stabbing the young woman repeatedly after which he turned his attention to Anibal, who had attempted to intervene.
Witnessed
The man, after stabbing both women, then stabbed himself and fell to the ground. Residents in the area said that Angus accused Anibal of encouraging Benjamin to leave him.
The residents said that both of the former couple’s children were present during the attack and witnessed their father knifing their mother to death.
Meanwhile, Anibal’s older sister, Lorna Collins, also known as ‘Aunty Lorna’, 60, who lives a few houses away from where the attack occurred, recounted that she was informed that “Jamal chopping up Vanessa,” which led to her rushing over. “I go straight in the yard and I see Jamal and I say ‘Jamal! Jamal!’ and with that my sister called me and say bring water and I throw it on her and she calling for more water and she telling me ‘Vanessa dead’ and I say no ‘Vanessa ain’t dead’,” the woman recounted.
Collins said that her emotional sister, although injured, repeatedly told her that ‘Vanessa dead! Vanessa dead!’
According to Collins, a relative then rushed Benjamin to the hospital, after which she rushed her sister to the hospital, while the police took Angus to the hospital.
“When I go, he was laying under the house. He had already stabbed himself because there was blood,” the woman recalled.
Collins said that doctors have since told them that her sister would have to undergo a CT Scan since they believe she suffered a minor stroke. “I was told that she have to take a CT scan because like the shock cause her to have a stroke,” she said.
Meanwhile, Collins said, she never received any complaints from Benjamin but about three weeks ago, Anibal informed her that Angus had threatened to kill Benjamin and himself and leave their two children with Anibal. “I walked down the street. I meet the daughter [Benjamin], who was heading for that side. I told her I didn’t give the house to her but her mother and if Jamal will make my sister life miserable, he will have to go and if she can’t do without Jamal she will have to go with him but she tell me Jamal done pack his clothes and leave,” Collins related.
However, the woman said, shortly after that, Angus visited her home. “He say he come to show me his story, that he is not a violent person and he didn’t threaten my sister and didn’t do nothing wrong,” she recalled. Collins said she advised him to stop “smoking you dope and find a job and mind your children them.”
“He say he can’t get a proper work cause he don’t have a ID card and birth certificate and I tell him he need to turn his life around and I tell him go live with his father at Number 30 but he say he want live right here where he can take care of his children,” the woman recounted.
Angus was reportedly renting a house located on a street close to Anibal’s house.
Threat
It was after Angus made the threat that Anibal visited the Blairmont Police Station and obtained a restraining order against the man, Collins said.
The older sister also told Stabroek News that many years ago, Anibal, a mother of three, was badly stabbed by her now ex-husband and “from since then, if a little bush crack she jumpy.”
According to Collins, Anibal’s ex-husband was released after serving some time in prison. “She and he separate and she divorce him since then and live by herself,” the sister said.
Meanwhile, Benjamin’s cousin, Verlinda, who is an officer attached to the Blairmont Police Station, yesterday told Stabroek News that she was at work when the station received a call that Angus had attacked someone. She said that she and other ranks were heading to the scene when she saw relatives proceeding to the hospital in a car.
Verlinda then boarded that vehicle, where she saw Benjamin, who was badly injured, in an unconscious state. “I received information that my aunt was injured so when I enter the vehicle it was really strange to see her. She was just laying there helplessly,” the emotional woman related.
According to Verlinda, although Benjamin broke off the relationship with Angus, he refused to “let go.” She said that the man would stalk her cousin. “She would be on the road and she can’t be in peace,” she recounted.
The cousin related that Benjamin would often complain that she and Angus would have serious problems but she never reported whether the man had assaulted her.
According to the young officer, Benjamin would encourage Angus to play a role in their children’s life but she was adamant that she did not want a relationship with him.
Verlinda recalled that her cousin was a soft spoken and loving person who cared for others more than herself. “She tried to do her best to maintain her home and support her mother with the two kids,” she said.
Last evening, Collins said, Benjamin’s children, who are now staying with a relative, were crying continuously for their mother.