Berbice man arrested after brutalising girlfriend, daughter

A Courtland Village, Corentyne man was arrested on Wednesday after he attempted to murder his girlfriend and brutally assaulted her eight-year-old daughter.

The accused Junior Benn, known to be a “linesman” attached to the Guyana Power and Light Company, accused his 32-year-old girlfriend of being unfaithful.

Despite the woman denying the allegations, the man launched an attack, cuffing her to the head and face. He then threw her to the ground and continued to ruthlessly beat her about the body. During the ordeal, Benn grabbed a bottle containing a liquid substance, suspected to be poison, and threw it into her mouth twice and to her face.

The woman’s eight-year-old daughter witnessed the terrifying scene and went to her mother’s rescue, holding on to Benn and begging him to stop hurting her mother. However, the man dealt the child a cuff to her face, knocking her unconscious. The child received injuries to her nose and right-side eye.

The incident occurred on Wednesday at Benn’s Lot 472 Queen Street, Courtland Corentyne, Berbice home at around 11:40 hrs. Reports are that woman and the suspect have been involved in a relationship for about a year. She lives in another village but would regularly visit him and so she had been at his home since Monday.

On Wednesday morning, she was relaxing in the living room when Benn asked why her phone was on vibrate mode. When she denied it was vibrating, he demanded she calls her “man” from her cell phone”.

The woman continuously denied being in a relationship with anyone else but Benn insisted and launched the assault.

After hearing the commotion, neighbours ran to the rescue of the young mother and her child. They were transported to the Port Mourant Hospital where she remained for medical treatment while her daughter was subsequently transferred to the New Amsterdam Hospital. Both of their conditions are listed as serious but stable.

Benn was arrested and while in Police custody, he told investigators that the woman placed a poisonous substance in his tea, and after he drank it, he felt a burning sensation to his stomach.

He was also taken to the Port Mourant Hospital but after being examined, the doctor concluded that there were no signs of him having consumed a poisonous substance.