[UPDATED] New Grant woman hospitalised, male relative in custody after knife, cutlass attack

Quick action by New Grant residents on Tuesday evening may have averted two deaths and saved a building from burning to the ground.

Resident Gail Cummings-Jones, 48, was in stable condition at the San Fernando General Hospital up to Wednesday. She had slash and chop wounds to her face and neck.

The police have detained a close male relative, 68, with an injury to his neck. Residents and police suspect it was self-inflicted.

The injuries stemmed from a knife and cutlass attack in the apartment where they live at Monkey Town Third Branch Road.

Cummings-Jones managed to get out of the apartment and alerted neighbours, who saw the apartment in flames.

The police later learned the suspect began arguing with the victim, who was talking on a cell phone. The argument escalated, and he chopped her several times. She escaped, and he went into a room and sat on a mattress.

When Newsday visited on Wednesday, the apartment was locked, and no one was inside.

A resident who did not give his name said he and others were alerted to the fire. Thinking it was a "normal" fire, they began putting out the flames using a bucket brigade.

"We were throwing water through the windows, and eventually, we put out the fire.

"The stove was turned on, and the gas line was cut. He was lying on a mattress as if he was waiting for the place to blow up," the resident said.

"Some neighbours wanted to beat him. But a man went in the room and locked the door so people would not beat (the suspect’s name).

"He chopped her real bad. I cannot say if he was drinking or exactly how it happened."

The man initially reported to police that he and the woman had been drinking puncheon rum, and he could not remember the details of the incident. He believed he drank too much and they had an argument that escalated. He reported he could not remember how he was injured.

The injured woman was taken to the Princes Town District Health Facility and transferred to the hospital.

From what the police were told, the couple had no history of domestic violence.

The suspect was treated and discharged from the Princes Town District Health Facility on Tuesday night.

The police seized a knife and cutlass smeared with blood.

Tableland police are continuing investigations.