Mental Health murders

Dec 04, 2022 News

The Detective…

The murder of three grannies have shocked the nation, this past week, but two of them were committed by individuals suffering from mental illnesses and one wonders if this could be serious trend developing.

Murdered, Agatha Gamel

In a recent statement issued by the Guyana Police Force (GPF), Acting Commissioner of Police, Clifton Hicken said that he is deeply concerned about the killings.

While the Force has vowed to work closely with the Ministry of Human Services and other stakeholders to mitigate such crimes, it is being forced to advise families to lookout for relatives showing signs of depression and seek the necessary professional medical interventions.

Many believe that persons suffering from mental health illnesses are only harmful to themselves but they can also be dangerous to others.

Studies done by psychoanalysts have found that most of the perpetrators behind mass shootings in the United States result from some form of mental illness affecting the perpetrators.

During the wee hours of Sunday, a killing occurred at Charity on the Essequibo Coast, Region Two.
A woman reportedly heard loud screams coming from the home of her 75-year-old neighbour, Agatha Gamell. The screams were accompanied with the cries of a baby and the startling noise lasted for a while before there was sudden silence.

A short while later, a young lady carrying a naked newborn with bloodied hands knocked on the woman’s door.
The woman responded and was deeply disturbed at the sight. She recalled the young lady handing her the baby while saying, “my baby just died”. The woman refused to take the child and recalled that the young lady walked out of the yard with the baby and left.

Murdered, Audrey Harris

She became suspicious that something terrible might have happened at Gamell’s home and called 911.

When detectives arrived, they found the pensioner dead on her kitchen floor.

There were large gaping wounds to the back of her neck and another to the right side of her head. Some of her hair appeared to be cut off and was found next to her body. Detectives also found a pair of blood-stained scissors on top of a gas stove and suspected that it could be the weapon used to kill Gamell.

Their prime suspect was the young lady seen with bloodied hands and a naked baby. Ranks found her walking in the streets cuddling the child in her arms.

That young lady was later identified as Gamell’s granddaughter, a 22-year-old primary school teacher and mother of the newborn.
She was reportedly diagnosed with postpartum depression, a mental condition. Her relatives did not know that her condition was so severe and she did not get the treatment she needed. It proved to be a fatal error that ended with the death of her grandmother after she was sent to spend the night at the woman’s home.

It is still unclear how Gamell was killed because her granddaughter could not recall anything about the incident to the police; however, an autopsy revealed that she died from multiple injuries to the body.

The teacher is currently a patient in the psychiatric ward at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) undergoing a psychological evaluation.
Five days later, another elderly woman, Audrey Harris, 75, of Princes Street Georgetown was allegedly stabbed to death by her mentally ill nephew.

The killing reportedly took place around 09:00hrs on Friday, police reported. The mentally ill man lived in the bottom flat of the woman’s home and on the day in question, according to police, he had an argument with Harris after she asked him to move out of her house.
He reportedly refused to leave and the argument ensued ended with death. The nephew reportedly armed himself with a knife and stabbed Harris twice to her neck.

He is currently on the run.

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