A 19-year-old woman is now dead after the police say she was fatally stabbed by her boyfriend on Tuesday at the Craig, East Bank Demerara (EBD) apartment they had been sharing.
The dead woman has been identified as Shenese Walks, who was the mother of an infant child.
Police reported that the fatal stabbing occurred between 15:30 hrs on Tuesday and 11:45 hrs yesterday, when the young woman’s body was found at the Lot 311, Craig, Public Road, EBD apartment.
According to the police, the dead woman and her 21-year-old boyfriend had a misunderstanding on Tuesday afternoon and she reportedly armed herself with a knife. The man then tried to take the knife away from her and he subsequently stabbed her to the left side of her neck.
As a result, the police said, he became afraid, locked the house and left.
However, yesterday at 08:00 hrs, the man contacted his brother and an aunt, who both escorted him to the Grove Police Station, where he was handed over to the police.
Acting on the information received, ranks visited the apartment where they found Walks lying on her back beside a bed with a knife stuck in her neck.
The woman’s body was then escorted to the Memorial Gardens Funeral Home, where it currently awaits a post- mortem examination.
The boyfriend, identified as Joel Spooner, remained in custody up to last night.
When Stabroek News visited the Craig property where the couple resided, the landlady, who wished not to be named, said that she only became aware of the fatal stabbing when the police showed up at her door and announced that there was a body inside the house.
The woman explained that she had rented the lower flat of the house to Spooner three years ago, and that she only knew Walks by seeing her around since she and her baby only moved in with the man a mere three months ago. The landlady said that Walks, a teacher, originally hailed from Linden.
Although it is unclear what led to the couple’s fatal encounter, the landlady noted that two months ago Spooner was in an altercation with the young woman as he claimed that she was talking to other persons.
That case was said to have been resolved at the police station.
“They had a problem like two months ago…and we took them upstairs and we spoke to them — spoke to he and she — and she said she was going away…. Their issue is that he don’t want her to talk to nobody and he wanted to isolate she from everybody…” the landlady stated.
The killing of Walks comes amidst increased scrutiny of the police force’s handling of domestic violence cases. (Aviso Paul)
