In an early morning rampage, an Ann’s Grove, East Coast Demerara farmer chopped his sleeping son to death, before launching an attack on his common-law wife, who he wounded and burned, before ending his own life.
Dead are 57-year-old Leon Bobb and his son 21-year-old Seon Scott, of Lot 24 Middle Walk, Ann’s Grove, while 53-year-old Sharon Scott is hospitalised with wounds and burns about her body. Up to press time her condition was listed as stable.
Mourning family members said Bobb chopped Seon to death while he was asleep. He then chopped Sharon several times about her body, drenched her in gasoline and set her ablaze. He then ingested a poisonous substance, cut himself in the abdomen and also set himself ablaze.
It is unclear what triggered Bobb’s rampage but Sharon’s relatives told Stabroek News that Bobb had frequently accused her of having an affair with another man.
Shonnella Scott said, “Me aunty don’t really go nowhere. She does come out by this shop that she get here and that is it.”
The Guyana Police Force yesterday confirmed that there had been an ongoing domestic dispute between the couple and also said that Bobb reportedly physically assaulted the woman on several occasions and Seon would usually intervene during the attacks.
According to a police statement, at about 02:20 hours on Wednesday, noise was heard coming from the residence after which Sharon was seen running out of the house with blood on her clothing. Bobb reportedly chased behind her with a cutlass in his hand, telling her to get back into the house. The woman then raised an alarm, shouting “Leon chopped Seon.”
The police said Sharon managed to escape and was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) by her daughter. The woman suffered a wound to the left side of her neck, her right hand and burn marks about her body. She was admitted to the Burn Unit suffering from first degree burns.
A neighbour, who wish not to be named, recounted that Sharon ran out the house hollering that Leon had chopped Seon.
The neighbour said Bobb ran out behind her with a cutlass and tried to get her back into their yard. But neighbours prevented him.
“Blood went all over she clothes. Then we tell Leon come he say he going and put on a jersey but he never come out back,” the neighbour recalled.
“When he turn back to go in the house, he saying, ‘You see what y’all make me do this boy?”
According to the neighbour, while Sharon’s daughter carried her to the hospital, no one ventured into the house as Bobb had been armed with the cutlass. “Nobody didn’t go in to check wa go on because he had cutlass and he did going on bad so people didn’t take the chance. But ’til day clean people know that Seon dead. Neighbours go in when place bright and then them realise Seon dead,” the neighbour said.
Meanwhile, police said ranks who responded to the scene found Seon lying motionless on a mattress in the house. A large wound was seen to the left side of his neck. Bobb was subsequently found lying on a blood-soaked bed in a room with a large wound to his abdomen with his intestines protruding.
He was still alive and rushed to the GPH, where he died while in the process of receiving treatment. Seon was pronounced dead on arrival at the GPH. The bodies are presently at the mortuary awaiting post-mortem examinations.
