Hammer beating…Pharmacist dies, wife transferred to GPHC

Feb 22, 2014 News

The man who used a hammer to inflict a brutal beating on his wife, a doctor, last Wednesday morning and then consumed a poisonous substance died yesterday.
The Doctor whose condition has improved was transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital.
Victor Yearwood, 37, a Pharmacy Assistant at the New Amsterdam Hospital and of Savannah Park Housing Scheme succumbed at the New Amsterdam Hospital after he was rushed there Wednesday evening.

Pharmacy Assistant, Victor Yearwood and his wife, Dr. Illiana Pairol Urrutia-Yearwood, in happier times.

The man had allegedly drunk gramoxone after allegedly battering his wife Dr. Illiana Pairol Urrutia-Yearwood, 43, a Cuban-born doctor with a hammer in her head and about her body following a misunderstanding at their home Wednesday morning.
The doctor was rushed to the medical institution on Wednesday morning by her husband following a dispute at home. According to reports, neighbours had to intervene after the man took a hammer and started beating the woman in her head and about her body.
Her screams and hasty exit from the house attracted neighbours who hurried to her rescue. The hammer was taken away and the man was told to take the woman to the hospital which he did.
At the hospital he told medical personnel that his wife fell in the bathroom and hit her head. His explanation did not add up with the number of injuries the woman sustained.
Yearwood, after being told what the medical personnel suspected, quickly exited the hospital. The woman was slipping in and out of consciousness when she was rushed to the New Amsterdam hospital where she was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit.
Her condition subsequently improved and she was eventually transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital.
The matter was reported to the Central Police Station and a manhunt was launched for the accused. Yearwood was found by the police down a dam at Lonsdale, East Bank Berbice. He had allegedly driven his car, parked it on the road, went down the dam where he allegedly took the poison.
When he was found by the police he told them that he had ingested poison.
During his hospitalization he reportedly told investigators that his wife gave him a cup of tea laced with gramoxone.
However, his wife has been having regular bout of diarrhoea and has reportedly stated that the latest dispute started after her husband gave her a cup of tea which she thought tasted funny. She enquired from him the cause of the funny taste. This is what led to the eventual beating. She suspected that the tea was laced with poison.
The story of the now death Victor Yearwood, a Pharmacy Assistant at the New Amsterdam hospital and his wife Dr. Illiana Pairol Urrutia-Yearwood, a Cuban Doctor who came to Guyana a few years ago to work on the Guyana/Cuba exchange programme, goes back some time. It begs the question of whether the tragedy could have been avoided.
The couple had been having domestic problems for some time now and was previously before a magistrate. Yearwood was before the court charged with using threatening language against his wife on Monday July 1, last, at their home at Savannah Park, New Amsterdam, following a misunderstanding.
Yearwood was placed on a bond to keep the peace for six months. His wife was also placed on a bond after the man had made counter allegations.
The magistrate had also ordered that they seek counseling. Yearwood was also remanded to prison on another occasion for abusing his wife.
The couple does not have any children together. However she is the mother of one while he has four.