Marabella community laments attacks on children as BOY, 8, MOM KILLED IN SLEEP

A Guyanese mother and her son were brutally murdered while they slept at their Battoo Street, Marabella home on Tuesday morning.

Marabella residents lamented the killing of innocent children, as the bloodied bodies of Guyanese national Hollice Skinner Thomas, 40, and her son Noel, eight, were discovered in the bedroom of their rented apartment.

Education Minister Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly said she was heartbroken by the tragic death of another child.

“Although the details remain sketchy thus far, the death of any child is a tragedy, and worse yet, under such tragic circumstances.

“My heart goes out to the family and friends of both mother and son, as well as the school family of the late student. May they rest in God’s peace,” she said in a WhatsApp message accompanied by a broken-heart emoji.

No motive has as yet been established for the double homicide, but police are exploring the theory that it could be the result of a domestic situation.

Police said Thomas was not known to them before, and they had no recorded reports of threats on her life. Southern Division police and the Homicide Division Region 3 are searching for the killer(s).

Police believe Noel, a Standard Three student of Ste Madeleine Government Primary School, may have been asleep when his attacker plunged a knife into his neck, killing him instantly.

His body was found on a bed. His mother, who was also stabbed, was discovered on the floor next to the bed.

Police seized a knife, which may be the murder weapon, but found no sign of forced entry or struggle. This has led to the preliminary conclusion that mother and son were attacked while they slept.

Thomas died at the San Fernando General Hospital (SFGH), where she was taken for emergency treatment. Her place of employment was given as PRD Security Services, but when Newsday contacted the company, the secretary to the managing director said they could not verify her status with the company.

Police officers said Thomas was in a common-law relationship with Marcus John, and the trio moved into a downstairs apartment at Battoo Street about six months ago. Before that, the police said she lived in San Fernando, but did not specify any address.

John told the police he left home around 6 am, leaving mother and son alive. He said he returned some three hours later, around 9.05 am, to find his stepson dead and his common-law-wife on the brink of death.

John declined to be interviewed as he was so distressed.

According to a report, when John got home, he saw blood on the bedroom floor. He found Thomas lying at the side of the bed and bleeding from a wound in her neck.

Police said she was still alive and gasping for breath, but her son was motionless. John alerted others and took her to the hospital, where she died. Police are trying to determine whether she was able to reveal the identity of the killer(s) before she died.

A few neighbours stood inside their gates and looked on as the police processed the scene, expressing fear over the spiralling crime rate.

Jennifer Ramdin, 78, said she was already fearful but this crime has brought the reality closer and intensified her distress.

“Oh God,” she cried after learning that the mother and child had been murdered.

Ramdin said she saw Thomas alive and well in her gallery mere hours before the tragedy. She said she got up early to do laundry, and while hanging her clothes on a line outside, she saw Thomas. Ramdin said she went to rest and later woke up to screams. When she looked outside, she saw the police.

“I did not know her. I never spoke to her, but she looked normal when I saw her in her gallery.

“This situation real bad and sad. I don’t feel safe here any more.”

A man said he had just come home from work and was satisfying his curiosity after seeing police yellow tape and vehicles. He said crime was everywhere and did not believe enough was being done to curb the alarming rate.

Choosing anonymity, the man said he could not understand why adults were harming children in their disputes.

“Why take it out on the children?” he asked. “Crime is ridiculous...it is happening everywhere. Any one of us could be the next victim.”

Neighbours said they did not know the family, but a profile on Facebook indicated that Thomas studied at the University of Guyana and was married in 2014.

Thomas and Noel are the second mother and son to die tragically within two days. On Sunday, Surujdai Soogrim, 92, died in a fire which ravaged her New Grant home as she tried to save her mentally disabled son, Boysie Sonnyboy, 63. Sonnyboy also died.