Police are currently investigating the murder/suicide of a Cuban couple that occurred at their home on Station Street, Kitty, on Saturday afternoon.
According to a police press release, the deceased have been identified as Yuni Zamora Castro, 25, and her 60-year-old reputed husband known only as El Tio. Authorities responded to the scene around 5:30 pm after reports of a violent altercation to find Castro lying on the ground, face up, while the man was hanging from the roof of the house.
The police said initial investigations revealed that Castro and El Tio were living together in the two-storey concrete house, which they shared with several others. Friends and neighbours said that the couple had a tumultuous relationship.
Anislaidy Diaz Leblanch, a 42-year-old cleaner and cook who worked alongside Castro at a food shop in Stabroek Market, told the police that just four days prior to the incident, Castro had expressed a desire to separate from El Tio, citing his jealousy as a significant issue.
According to the police, Leblanch said that shortly after she and Castro returned home from work on Saturday, El Tio approached and handed Castro $1,000, requesting that she take from it the $200 he owed her. When she informed him that she did not have change at that moment, he retreated to the lower flat of the house.
The release said Leblanch told the police that Castro was on her phone downstairs sometime later when El Tio approached with a knife and began to stab her. The woman said she then fled. Emergency services were called to the scene, but both Castro and El Tio were pronounced dead at the scene. Preliminary examinations indicated that Castro sustained 14 stab wounds, while El Tio had nine wounds to his chest area.
The bodies were escorted to the Memorial Gardens Funeral Home, where they are awaiting post-mortem examinations.
