The brutal murder of a 27-year-old woman early
yesterday morning has plunged the border community
of Lethem into shock.
Donna Williams was pronounced dead on arrival at
the Lethem Hospital after she received three stab
wounds in the region of her heart from a man
suspected to be a Brazilian.
The incident occurred at about 07:30 hours in the
Tabatinga Creek area, near Lethem. At the time,
Williams, who resides in Bom Fin, Brazil, was
making her way to work at a Lethem store in the
company of her mother, Elizabeth, and her
seven-year old son, Floyd.
Police in a press release stated that the trio was
crossing the Tabatinga Creek on their way to
Lethem.
According to the police, Williams’ mother, who
was some distance in front, saw a man ride past on
a bicycle and at the same time heard her daughter
calling out for help.
On checking, she found Williams had been stabbed
in the upper part of her body.
Kaieteur News understands that Williams, who is
originally from Aranaputa Valley in the Rupununi,
would normally make her way to work early in the
mornings by crossing the border at a location
called the ‘Buffer Zone’, which is usually
referred to as a shortcut.
Many persons are convinced that a strange man who
was described as having two gold patches in his
hair was responsible for Williams’ death.
Her mother told Kaieteur News that while walking
along the trail near the Tabatinga Creek she
observed the man riding past her on a bicycle.
She said that the man kept looking back at her as
he passed.
When she reached the creek and was waiting on her
daughter, she heard Williams screaming that she
was stabbed, while holding her chest. “I
screamed but nobody came,” Elizabeth Williams
told this newspaper.
A few minutes later, some of the dead woman’s
friends who heard about the incident came running
to the scene where they found Williams lying in a
pool of blood.
They claimed that they tried to get the police as
well as the Lethem ambulance to the scene, but
this did not materialize after almost two hours
had elapsed.
In the meantime, friends and relatives had rushed
the mortally wounded woman to the hospital where
she was pronounced dead. Kaieteur News understands
that police retrieved the woman’s cellular phone
and a pair of sunglasses at the scene.
A resident told this newspaper that he got up
early yesterday morning and saw a man fitting the
description of the person given by Williams’
mother sitting near a bicycle as if he was waiting
to pounce on someone.
The resident said that at first he thought that it
was a policeman staking out the area which is
known for its small-time drug trafficking.
He later ventured from his home to a nearby shop
to purchase some cigarettes, and he is now
convinced that the man was a stranger who is
believed to be a Brazilian.
“While coming back I saw the girl mother
running, crying for help…she daughter just get
juk,” the resident stated.
He believes that the man he saw was waiting to
pounce on early morning commuters across the
border, who travel with large sums of money to do
shopping.
He lamented the absence of a police patrol in the
area which he said is devoid of lights.
“Brazilians and Guyanese cross here to do
business and a lot of them could get rob. Around
here is sheer drugs, guns, motorbike and cars
passing through. We call here the buffer zone,”
the resident told this newspaper.
He recalled that the area where Williams was
killed is the same area where a man, Ramotar
Singh, was found dead on Christmas morning last
with over 60 stab wounds to his body.
This newspaper also learnt that a team of Guyanese
have gone over to Brazil to provide information to
authorities there with the aim of capturing the
suspect, while local police are vigorously
investigating the matter.