A MURDER and two suicides, over the last three days, have marred the Christmas festivities in Region One (Barima/Waini).

The tragedies plunged families, in the quiet hinterland communities of Baramita, Kamwatta and Moruca, into deep mourning.

The latest was the suicide, committed by 42-year-old Jeremy Augustus, at Kat Market, in Moruca Sub-Region, around 04:00 h.

The distraught wife of the father of 10, Rose Augustus told the Guyana Chronicle that the unemployed man used the hangman’s noose on himself after asking for money to buy a drink and not getting what he considered sufficient.

The woman related that, on Monday night, she and her husband, in company with three of their elder daughters, went to a wedding reception and enjoyed a good time.

They left the function around 02:00 h yesterday but, on arriving home, her husband, already intoxicated, requested cash to get back to the reception venue.

His wife said she told him she only had $400 but he maintained it was not enough.

When he realised he would get no more, he left her and a daughter on the upper floor of the house and went downstairs, stating he was going to get a drink of water.

However, when he failed to return, his wife went in search of him but did not find him because, without electricity, the place was very dark.

She borrowed a lamp and continued searching until she discovered his body hung from the roof of the downstairs kitchen by a string around his neck.

The Police were alerted and they removed the corpse to Coomacka Station, from where it was to be flown to the city late yesterday, for an autopsy today.

Meanwhile, 35-year-old Anthony Williams of Kamwatta, in Mabaruma Sub-Region, was found dead Sunday morning under a lamp post.

Villagers suspect he must have held the live wires attached to it and the shock had flung him several feet away.

He, too, had experienced domestic problems and early that morning, went missing from his home.

A search, mounted by his wife, Theresa Romascindo and involving other family members and villagers led to them finding his lifeless body, some distance from where he lived. His hands and lower body parts were severely burnt.

A father of five, Williams was employed as a labourer with the Institute of Applied Science and Technology’s (IAST) Oil Palm Project at Wauna, also in the Mabaruma Sub-Region, North West District.

Mabaruma Police are investigating his death and his remains, too, would be subjected to an autopsy in Georgetown.

On Sunday, as well, at Baramita, in the Matthew’s Ridge Sub-Region, Junior James, a teenage boy, was stabbed to death by a female teen.

Police said the fatal wounding occurred in a Baramita house and they are investigating.