AN inebriated Ryan James murdered his wife, Vanessa Richmond-James, at their Lot 125 Jonestown, Mahaica, East Coast Demerara home following a quarrel early yesterday morning, tragically ending two years of lawful marriage.

Esther Maycock, sister of the deceased, told the media yesterday that relations seemed normal between the couple when her sister and husband dropped off their two-year-old son at her mother’s residence, a short distance away.
They said they were attending a wedding function a few villages away; but Ryan James, who was not a regular drinker of alcohol, was already under the influence, and it is not certain what sparked their argument.

Neighbours reportedly heard shouting and noises coming from the James home, but did not bother to investigate until Ryan James went over to a neighbour’s house to disclose that he had consumed poison before he collapsed.

Maycock added that an alarm was then raised, neighbours contacted her mother, and they went to the home of the Jameses, where Vanessa, 26, was found dead on a mattress in the living room of their rented one-storey wooden house at about 06:000 hours.

She was lying face up, clad only in her underwear, bearing multiple stab wounds about the body. Her head had been bludgeoned with a hammer and her throat had been slit, Maycock revealed. Maycock noted that Vanessa’s feet and hands had also been tied.

It is believed that after the couple had returned home from the wedding, sometime after midnight, a fight had erupted, because the house had been ransacked and was in total disarray.

Pieces of cloth were observed to be stuck in Vanessa’s mouth, most likely to prevent her from screaming; but neighbours had nevertheless heard her crying out for her ‘father’.

A pillow had also been placed over her head.

Ryan James, a farmer who had had a vibrant kitchen garden, was employed as a handyman for an official of the Civil Defence Commission (CDC). He was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC), where he was pronounced dead on arrival yesterday morning.

Esther Maycock said the relationship between the Jameses had been punctuated by quarrels which eventually escalated into fights. She added that Ryan James often abused her sibling physically, and she had many times reported to the police that he had threatened to end her life.

Maycock displayed a notebook yesterday which detailed reports written by her sister about the numerous times she had been beaten and abused by her husband, Ryan James, 30.