Woman stabbed in the back by man who jilted her

Stabroek News – July 31, 2007

A man who jilted a woman, practically at the altar, earlier this year, last night plunged a knife in her back in what relatives believe was revenge for her reporting him to the police over repeated acts abuse.

Amanda Hubbard, 24, of John Street, Lodge was in a critical condition at the Georgetown Hospital last night after doctors pulled out the knife which was buried almost to the hilt in her back. Her assailant, up to press time, was on the run.

Noel Hubbard, the woman’s father, told Stabroek News last night that some time after 9 pm, he took his daughter home. He said when he rode into the yard, the father of his daughter’s child appeared.

“He seh ‘what happen big boy’ and I said everything cool,” Hubbard related.

The man said his daughter was halfway up the steps when the man told her that he was there to collect his birth certificate. He said Amanda did not respond to man, instead she asked her father whether she should pick up the washing; clothes were hanging on the line.  

Rapists target 12-14 the most

Kaieteur News – July 30, 2007

A statistical report from Help and Shelter has shown that children between 12 and 14 years of age make up the majority of rape victims.

Help and Shelter has seen a total of 25 rape victims between January and June this year and 11 of those were between 12 and 14 years.

Information compiled has revealed that rape is more prevalent among the 6-8, 9-11, 15-17 and 21-30 age groups.

From January to June, Help and Shelter has seen no rape victims under six years, one person in the 18 to 20 age group, and another between 31 and 40 years.

Cruel and unusual

Chronicle – July 23, 2007
Editorial

As was recently reported in the press, two young cousins – girls aged barely thirteen and fourteen – were recently remanded on the charge of wandering. The case gained media attention last week when it was reported that the girls, who had run away from their respective homes, were found underwear-clad in the company of several males. Accounts differ; but it is alleged that a female officer handcuffed the girls, paraded them down the streets of the village, cut off the synthetic braids both girls sported and then had a barber shave their heads on a bridge in the village.

In the case of the two young Mocha runaways, it baffles the mind how victimhood is somehow transmuted into criminality. If sexual activity was suspected, the girls – both under the age of consent – seem to potentially have been the victims of statutory rape.

Firstly, the question that has to be asked is why,when the girls were first discovered at the abandoned house, the young men in their company were not detained? Why wait until the girls were already in detention, and then put the burden of proof on them to identify the men? Why were the men not detained or questioned? In a village as relatively remote, small and secluded as Mocha, no doubt it would not have been difficult for the arresting officers to identify at the very least one of the young men who happened to be in the girls’ company at the time of their arrest.  

I welcome the appointments of these two ladies

Stabroek News – July 21, 2007

Dear Editor,

My sincere congratulations to both Ms. Amanda Jairam – Country Manager for Scotiabank Guyana and Ms Sarah Parris – General Manager for Citizens Bank Guyana. Ms. Amanda Jairam was appointed to her position about two months ago and according to information received she is the first female and Guyanese to have such a position with the Bank of Nova Scotia (Guyana).

I was extremely heartened on reading the newspaper today and seeing the appointment of Ms Sarah Parris as General Manager for Citizens Bank. To these women I want to encourage you to do your best and may your stewardship of the banks lead to improved customer service and tangible benefits for your customers and the country as a whole.

A bank’s involvement in a country’s development is quite important. May God bestow on both of you continued wisdom.

To all the women in Guyana please aspire for betterment and to our daughters strive at every opportunity to make the most of your natural given talent.

Yours faithfully,

Karen Bacchus

Cullen man kills himself after chopping wife

Stabroek News – July 20, 2007

A 36-year-old man, Jageshwar Dyal yesterday afternoon slashed his wife, Shamdai Jageshwar causing her wounds before killing himself by slitting his throat following an argument at Cullen Squatting Area on the Essequibo Coast.

The 37-year-old woman was treated at the Suddie Hospital and sent away. She suffered chop wounds across the shoulder. The incident happened around 4.30 pm.

The man, reports indicated, was in the habit of making threats to the woman’s life and they were always quarrelling.

Police said that the woman ran into the house to avoid further attacks and later when she came out of the house she found her husband lying in the yard with his throat slit.

Runaway Mocha girls taken in handcuffs by cops to station – heads shaven

Stabroek News – July 20, 2007
By Zoisa Fraser

Two girls who are in the habit of running away from home were on Wednesday walked by police through the streets of Mocha in handcuffs and later had their heads shaven by someone as punishment for delinquent behaviour.

Residents of the East Bank Demerara community are upset over the police action as they consider that the girls who are cousins may be in urgent need of counselling.

Up to yesterday afternoon when this newspaper was leaving the area the girls were still being held at the Mocha Police Station and the policewoman who is at the centre of the dispute said that the teens were led through the streets and had their hair cut to “teach them a lesson”.