YONETTE Gumbs, 45, of Lot 1525 Onderneeming, La Parfait Harmonie, West Bank of Demerara, reputed wife of seven years to late miner Dennis Harris, 44, was on Monday released on bail from police custody after a post-mortem performed on Harris’s body revealed that the man had punctured a vein in his hand, and had bled to death.

Crime Chief Seelall Persaud said that given the post-mortem report and the incident itself, Harris’s death can be termed ‘accidental’, in which case he can be deemed responsible for his own demise.

Harris and his reputed wife had, on March 6, returned home from a celebration in the village marking the birthday of one of Harris’s relatives. The couple had left home quarrelling, and had returned home with their issues unresolved; and the allegedly inebriated Harris was verbally abusing Gumbs in front of her three daughters, which resulted in Harris being locked out of the house when he picked up a scissors and threatened Gumbs.

Thereafter, Harris had begun to verbally abuse Gumbs in a loud tone of voice laced with expletives; and in an attempt to re-enter the house, had cuffed a glass window, which shattered and caused Harris to receive a gaping cut to his hand. He bled to death while receiving medical attention at the West Demerara Regional Hospital.

Yonette Gumbs had met Harris while she was working in the hinterland as a cook, and he later moved in with her; but he was often abusive to Gumbs and her three daughters, and had, on many occasions, even threatened to kill them all.

(By Michel Outridge)