THE police are investigating the alleged murder of 26-year-old housewife, Aneeza Ishmael, of Hope Estate, East Coast Demerara, which occurred around 10:00hrs on Monday.

According to a police press release, the suspect is Ricardo Kattow, called ‘Otis,’ a fisherman.

Enquiries disclosed that Ishmael and the suspect lived together as husband and wife in a ‘common law’ relationship.

“They had ongoing domestic issues where he accused her of being unfaithful. On 2023-03-03, the now-deceased woman left home and went to her friend’s house at Better Hope, East Coast Demerara, where she stayed for a few days,” the release said.

It went on to explain that the woman returned to her home on Monday with her younger sister to collect her belongings.

“While there, she was confronted by the suspect, who asked her not to leave. Aneeza Ishmael insisted that she only came to collect her clothing. The suspect became annoyed, pulled a knife from the waist of his pants and attacked the woman. Aneeza’s sister pushed away the now-deceased woman and told her to run, which she did.

The suspect ran behind Aneeza, caught her in the yard and stabbed her in the neck, face, and hands, causing her to fall to the ground. The suspect then attacked the sister, but she fought him off. She received a wound to her left thumb. The suspect inflicted several wounds on his body and consumed a poisonous substance, and he fell to the ground,” the release added.

Neighbours were alerted, and the police were summoned.

On arrival at the scene, ranks examined the body and both the victim and the suspect were escorted to the CC Nicholson Hospital at Nabaclis, East Coast Demerara, where they were admitted.

At about 12:20hrs, a doctor pronounced the victim ‘dead’ while receiving treatment.

The suspect was escorted to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where he was admitted a patient under guard.

The scene was processed and photographed. The area was checked, and one knife was recovered in the yard, along with an empty bottle which is suspected to have contained the substance that the suspect reportedly consumed.

The deceased woman’s body was escorted to Memorial Gardens Funeral Home to await a post-mortem.

Investigations are ongoing.