[UPDATED] Penal mother, son chopped, stabbed to death

After witnessing his mother's murder during an attack at home, a 12-year-old boy managed to walk for about ten minutes with a stab wound to his neck to his grandfather's house.

Abeo Cudjoe, 31, the mother of two, died at her home at Lachoos Road in Penal before dawn on Tuesday. She is believed to have been stabbed and chopped.

Her son, Levi Lewis, a student of St Dominic's RC School in Penal, died while being treated at the San Fernando General Hospital. Cudjoe's other son, three, was asleep during the attack and was unhurt.

Cudjoe's father, Phillip Harewood, 62, said he was awakened at around 1.30 am when Levi came to his home at Penal Rock Road.

Harewood recalled that when he opened the door, he was taken aback when he saw the child covered in blood and barely able to speak. Harewood put his hand on the wound and applied pressure to stop the bleeding.

"My grandson did not say anything for about 15 minutes. He said, 'Bandits!' Then he said his mother was dead...He did not talk much and was frightened to go back."

Harewood said the boy identified the killer, a close male relative.

Harewood took the child to the hospital and sent other relatives to check on his daughter and his other grandson. The family also called the police.

The grandfather of seven said, "Levi told me he was going to die."

Levi was awaiting his Secondary Entrance Assessment examination results. His father, Neil Lewis, lives in Couva.

Harewood said Cudjoe was a victim of domestic violence for many years. He repeatedly warned her to leave the relationship, but she refused. He even told her if she remained, she would be killed.

She recently got a restraining order against the suspect, who beat her and fractured one of her hands.

"On Thursday after I left here, she told me that he attacked her and dragged her from the house. I told her he was going to kill her one day. Her murder is not a shock to me," Harewood said at the house when she died.

"I gave her plenty of advice, but young people do not hear. I told her to leave him. It has been happening for years. The last time she reported him, she did not want to. It seems like she was in love."

Harewood said to women who might be in abusive relationships, "Don't go through that. Leave your husbands because you can end up dead too."

Cudjoe was the youngest of seven siblings.

A relative said one of the last posts Cudjoe made on Facebook on April 23 was about being abused "in so many ways."

A close relative of the suspect urged victims of domestic violence to walk away from the relationships.

She denied, however, that her relative was abusive to Cudjoe or that he killed her.

"He is innocent. He does not live there. He has not been here for the past five days. The family has solid proof he did not do it. I am positively sure he did not do this," she said, adding that he had been staying elsewhere.

She added that she was aware of some of the allegations Cudjoe made against him. Relatives went to the undisclosed location, woke him up, and told him about the double killing on Tuesday.

He reportedly called a lawyer and was expected to meet with police investigators.

His relative said she became aware of the murders at about 5 am, when people began gathering at the house.

Homicide Bureau Region III police are investigating.

Victims of domestic violence can call the police at 999 or 555 or any police station for help. People can also call the NGOs International Women's Resource Network at 795-9531 or the Coalition Against Domestic Violence at 624-0402.

This story has been updated to include additional details. Read original below:

A mother and her 12-year-old son were chopped and killed early on Tuesday.

The police said Abbiella Cudjoe, 31, died in her home at Lachoos Road, Penal, and her son, Levi Andrews, died while being treated at the San Fernando General Hospital.

The police said the woman’s other child, a baby, was found asleep and unhurt in the house.

The incident happened before dawn.

Residents said the woman had an argument with a male relative earlier.