In the fading light of an ill-fated afternoon, at 5 pm on December 9, 1994, the peace and quiet of Buxton and Friendship on the East Coast Demerara in Guyana were tragically shattered when 34 year-old Hubert Headley, known to everyone as “Baby Arthur” ran berserk with a cutlass through the streets of the communities slaughtering six people and a dog and injuring two others. It was a 20-minute killing spree which ended when Headley was shot down by the police who he also attacked when they confronted him.
The tragedy of the Baby Arthur massacre hung over Buxton and Friendship for several years after, turning into legend and mythology across villages, in Georgetown and over the shocked consciousness of the country.
According to accounts of the horrific incident, Headley first attacked a 14 year-old boy who escaped with minor injuries, following which he stole a bicycle and a cutlass and in a grotesque ride around the two villages took “the lives of his 59-year-old mother Hyacinth Arthur, 44-year-old Dennis Joseph called ‘Bunny’, Maude Hutton, 56, 18-year-old Sean Sullivan, seven-year-old Melissa Valentine (or Melissa France), two-year-old Semple Peters and a hapless dog who crossed his path.” His niece Eileen was also attacked, but escaped with very minor injury.