Man stabs wife several times, hangs self

Mar 04, 2014 News

By Rabindra Rooplall
After being stabbed over two dozen times by her husband who eventually hanged himself yesterday, 29 year- old Tamika Miller Patterson of Lot 18, Goed Fortuin, West Bank Demerara (WBD) is clinging to life at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).

Mr. and Mrs. Patterson in happy times

Her husband, 32-year-old Curtis Andrew Patterson of Lot 63, Lancaster Street, Goed Fortuin, WBD Housing Scheme was found hanging under a water trestle at Lot 57, Roraima Housing Scheme, Versailles, WBD.
His body was discovered by tenants within the apartment complex. His wrist was also slit, according to reports. The body was taken to Ezekiel funeral parlour.
The couple, who celebrated their eight wedding anniversary January last, has an eight year old daughter.
This newspaper understands that last January Tamika Patterson moved out of the couple’s matrimonial home and was living alone with her daughter.
Reports reveal that Andrew Patterson, a former Guyana Power Light (GPL) employee, visited his wife’s residence in the wee hours of Monday morning.
He reportedly knocked on the door and when the woman opened it he began stabbing her repeatedly with a sharp object.
Eyewitness said the badly injured woman stumbled into the street and across the road, but her husband followed her and continued to stab her until she collapsed to the ground.
He then fled the area.
According to the dead man’s mother, Thelma Patterson, “it was minutes to 4:00 a.m. when I hear a tumbling inside the kitchen, so I thought my husband was over balanced and he tumbled down, because I know he does get up and watch movie. When I get up he tell me he was trying to stop our son from pushing a knife in his own chest, but then he get away and efforts to contact him failed since he didn’t answer his phone.”
The mother of four explained that a while later she received a phone call relating that her son had stabbed his wife and escaped.
“I managed to go out to the West Demerara Regional Hospital where I saw her; she was transferred to the GPHC and while I was there, somebody come in and say that Andrew hanged himself, I later confirmed this with my daughter.” She said she then made a report at the Vreed-en-Hoop Police Station.

The house Tamika Miller Patterson shared with her eight-year-old daughter in Goed Fortuin, West Bank Demerara.

Reflecting on the tumultuous relationship, Miss Patterson said that last January the couple separated and her daughter-in-law returned to her previous abode.
Describing her son as a very reclusive person, Miss Patterson said she is a devout Christian and tried on many occasion to reach out to her son to enlighten him on the teachings of the bible and his role as a husband and father. However, “when you talk to him he does watch at you and say nothing…he is a person that does not talk much.”
The dead man’s sister Collis Ann Patterson reiterated that her brother appeared to be depressed and never said much during conversations. “The last thing he said to me was that he was tired and frustrated. I don’t even understand what problems the two of them would have, I know they had issues but to say what it was, is difficult.”