Young mother knifed to death, best friend held

A young mother was on Thursday night knifed to death and police have arrested her best friend for the crime.

Lloyda Thomas, 20, called “Renita,” of Lot 338 Sunflower Close, South Ruimveldt, was stabbed multiple times about her body during the altercation at Versailles, West Bank Demerara.

Afterward, she was left unattended by her friends for a period of time before they decided to rush her to the West Demerara Regional Hospital, where she was pronounced dead on arrival.

A post-mortem examination performed yesterday revealed that Thomas died as a result of a stab wound in her abdomen.

Her alleged assailant, Angelique Williams, was taken into police custody at the hospital, where she also received treatment for an injury she sustained.

According to a police statement, the row occurred around 10:30PM on Thursday night at Versailles, where Thomas was involved in an argument. When Stabroek News visited Thomas’ home, where Williams had also been residing, a number of the dead woman’s friends were present and many of them expressed their shock at her sudden death. Some were still trying to come to grips with the fact that she was dead.

A very close friend of Thomas, Tiffany (only name given), told Stabroek News with tears in her eyes that she learnt from other friends that the altercation took place after the women had left the Aracari Resort, where they had gone with about 10 other friends for a “hang.”   Tiffany said an argument broke out when Thomas, Williams and another friend were heading home.

At the time, they had been seated in the back seat of a vehicle driven by a male friend and they started to argue over the seating arrangements. Because of the argument, the driver was forced to stop the vehicle. The women, however, continued to fight and Williams allegedly picked up a beer bottle from nearby, broke it and continuously stabbed Thomas about her body.

After learning of what took place, Tiffany alerted family members and other friends of Thomas and they rushed to the hospital. However, once there they heard from the father of her daughter that she was already dead.

The woman added that Williams was also at the hospital as she had reportedly injured her wrist with the broken bottle. The police arrived and arrested her at the hospital after she was treated.

According to Tiffany, prior to the stabbing the two friends shared a close relationship for five years and they lived like sisters. She also noted that recently Williams had threatened to kill Thomas whenever she got the chance but the threat was taken as a joke. Recently, they had been having arguments, almost daily, about bills. These arguments started after Thomas invited another friend to live with them.

Thomas was the mother of a one-year-old daughter, who has been in the care of her grandmother since the incident.