Police probe non-action in death threat allegation

Sep 16, 2010 News

The East Coast of Demerara police are investigating reports that ranks at the Vigilance Police Station failed to take action following death threats to Deon Stephens, who was eventually stabbed to death on Monday night.
The threats were allegedly made by Stephens’s reputed husband, who has gone into hiding after stabbing her several times about her body and slashing her throat.
A post mortem examination performed on her body yesterday revealed that a stab wound to her heart had caused her death, although her throat was slashed.
A police official on the East Coast of Demerara said that investigators are in the process of taking further statements from relatives who had alleged that the woman’s killer had issued the threats in the presence of police ranks.
Relatives are of the view that had the police taken action immediately, Stephens might not have suffered the fate she did.
According to the police official, relatives will be asked to identify the ranks in whose presence the threats were made.
“If we find any case of neglect during our investigations we will not be treating it lightly,” the official told this newspaper.
This is not the first time that the police have been accused of taking no action in the aftermath of domestic murders.
The police, in their defence, have repeatedly stated that in most cases, persons who report domestic abuse are unwilling to proceed with prosecution.
According to another source at the Vigilance Police Station, this was the same with Stephens and her reputed husband.
Kaieteur News was told that on the first occasion the woman reported domestic abuse, she did not give a statement to facilitate prosecution of the matter, although the man was placed into custody.
The source said that on that occasion Stephens had claimed that her reputed husband did not physically abuse her but accused her of having an affair with a man in Trinidad.
The source said that he was surprised when he learnt that the man had murdered Stephens, since the last time they were in contact with the police, everything appeared to be alright.
“We provided counseling to them and they left the station happily. I thought that they were about to make up. But it appears that a telephone call on Sunday night ticked him off,” the source told this newspaper.
Relatives had claimed that Stephens received a telephone call while she and her reputed husband were attending her mother’s birthday party.
They explained that although Stephens claimed that it was her supervisor, her reputed husband became angry and that led to Monday night’s stabbing.
Meanwhile, police continue their hunt for the suspect and have been responding to several reports of his sighting.

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