The 44-year-old mother of eight, who lost her life at the hands of her husband of 26 years, had been suffering years of abuse.
Vinnetta Headley-James was attacked and killed on Wednesday at around 12:50hrs by her husband, 45-year-old Sherlock James – who later attempted to take his own life.
According to a neighbour and a close friend, the woman had been enduring years of abuse.
In fact, just a few days before she met her demise, the woman was stabbed by her husband, who later fled the scene.
“She ran over at me with a stab wound here [pointing to face] and one at her neck,” the neighbour recalled.
“I was counselling her, I told her that I don’t like what was going on and I told her that many times this does lead to murder,” the neighbour explained to INews.
Headley-James, who was a vendor at the time she was murdered, had explained to her friend that her husband would get upset every time she found a job.
“She said every time she start working, he accuses her of having some man, when she start dressing and making herself nice, is some man,” the neighbour stated, denying reports that the woman was having an affair.
On the day in question, James had returned home to his clothes and other belongings being dumped in the yard by his wife.
He reportedly demanded that the woman stop throwing his stuff away, but she refused to comply.
This reportedly angered the man, who armed himself with a knife and stabbed the woman to her neck.
The neighbour said she was doing her daily chores when she heard the commotion.
“So when I ran out, I saw her (Headley-James) daughter and her baby running over the bridge. So I say like somebody fall into the trench or something ,but when I meet to the car I saw the woman, her throat was slit and she had something over the neck.
“I notice her head fall back so I started crying out loud and I realise that she wouldn’t be able to make it,” the neighbour recalled.
Headley-James was rushed to the CC Nicholson Hospital where she died whilst receiving treatment.
When police arrived on scene, checks were made in the bush at the back of their yard where James was seen lying with a wound to his neck (suspected to be self-inflicted).
He was escorted to the GPHC where he is presently receiving treatment under guard.
The Guyana Police Force said James worked in the interior and would spend long periods away from home.
he couple has eight children together but only three were living with them at their Nabaclis Side Line Dam East Coast Demerara (ECD) home.
