UPDATE: Mahaica woman hacked to death by jealous husband

By Kristen Macklingam

Residents in Chelsea village, Mahaica, have plunged into a state of mourning and are still in disbelief after learning of the details leading up to the gruesome murder of 31-year-old Candacy Pitt who died at the hands of her husband.

For the past 13 years Candacy and her now 41-year-old husband, Athlone Pitt, had their shares of ‘ups and downs’ like any other married couple but as time passed the intensity of their arguments escalated.

This eventually led to Athlone publicly insulting his wife and even telling neighbours and family members that he would kill her, Candacy’s relatives told INews.

On Wednesday night, Candacy, a security guard who was on duty at the Bygeval Primary School, left her parents home without knowing that this would be the last occasion on which they would see her alive.

Evonne Andrews, the mother of the deceased woman, told this online publication today that on Wednesday evening Athlone came home and was calling for his wife but Evonne had instructed her not to answer him since he was highly intoxicated.

Candacy and Athlone lived in the house next door to the young woman’s family and they all shared the same yard.

Eventually Athlone began calling for his mother-in-law and she too chose not to answer his calls. When he retired to his own home Candacy’s father escorted her to her workplace where she was scheduled to work with an older female relative, Brenda Thomas.

Shortly after the two women begun their duties, Athlone is alleged to have gone to the school compound’s gate asking to see his wife but was denied access by Thomas who saw him armed with a cutlass.

“He went to the guard house and attacked them and he chop Brenda first with one long cut on her belly and one long cut on her back…he chop her finger and all. Then he start on Candy, chopping her and then turn her over and chop her neck, foot and hand,” the distraught woman lamented.

Athlone then reportedly covered his face, picked up his bicycle and went to the police station where he confessed to the murder.

According to Athlone’s mother-in-law, he is an alcoholic who would usually consume ‘high wine’. As such he chose not to earn an income and therefore could not maintain his wife or himself and this forced Candacy to secure a job to take care of them both.

“He drinking his rum and didn’t want to work and he up and down on the road telling everyone to talk to her to leave the work. He not working and giving her anything so how will she maintain herself? Yesterday morning he told her it was the last morning she would be working and he always threaten her, we urge her to make reports at stations but she was afraid,” Evonne explained.

Other relatives told this online publication that Athlone recently begun telling persons that he “caught her with another man” but they refuted such claims stating that if the young woman had been involved with someone else then she would have left Athlone and not have had to find a job to support them.

“He lie. Which man? If she wanted a man she would have gone with a man. She wouldn’t have been forced to find a work and  whole day he drinking high wine. He always stress her out, threaten her to kill out the whole family and only last month she started working there…,” Evonne related.

Meanwhile, Athlone is still in the lockups at the Mahaica Police Station, where police ranks are presently conducting further investigations into the matter. He is expected to be charged for the offenses soon.