Misfortune struck again at the Brickdam Police Station on Monday morning after a woman died by suicide in the midst of a public and emotional quarrel with her husband and father of her two children.
Dead is 48-year-old Trudy DeHaarte, who was an animal inspector attached to the Guyana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (GSPCA) and a well-known animal rights activist.
Dead: Trudy DeHaarte
Police Headquarters released a statement explaining that the victim and her husband, who is a taxi driver, were having marital problems and as such, the man had left their East Coast Demerara (ECD) home about a week ago and was living with his father on the West Bank of Demerara (WBD).
At around 08:50h on Monday, the woman confronted the man and their son on Camp and Regent Streets, Georgetown, where she reportedly used an object wrapped in a yellow cloth and struck her husband’s motor car.
As a result, the man drove to the Brickdam Police Station to make a report against his wife. The woman then followed him. As the husband was waiting to make a report, the victim stood in front of the station.
The husband then pointed out the woman to an officer who then escorted her into the compound.
The woman walked to the entrance of the Enquiries Office where she took out the object in the yellow cloth, which was concealed in a black plastic bag. The woman looked at her husband, who was a short distance away, raised the object – which was still concealed in the bag – to her head, and remarked “this is what you want”.
A clicking sound was then heard and the woman fell to the ground. She was subsequently pronounced dead at the scene. Police said the weapon used by the victim was a stun gun which she had in her possession and used during her job as an animal inspector.
Investigations so far revealed that the woman was a patient at the Psychiatric Clinic at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC). It is unclear how long she has been a patient there and what her exact condition was.
Unfortunate
At the scene of the incident, Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn told the media that the development was “unfortunate”.
“They are doing forensics and other works and doing the questioning of the related parties and we’ll hear most of it afterward, but it’s a matter for the Police at the moment,” Minister Benn had posited.
Trudy DeHaarte’s body on the ground at the Brickdam Police Station
The now dead woman’s sister, Emily Clarke told the media that DeHaarte had confided in a family member overseas about her marital problems but that relative never believed that the woman would have committed suicide.
“I just called my relatives in Canada and Trinidad and they told me that she complained about some affair that the husband had, so maybe that triggered it,” the sister reasoned.
On October 2, 2021, a significant portion of the Brickdam Police Station was destroyed following a fire at the building. Clarence Green, 26, has since been remanded to prison for the crime. Police Headquarters had said that Green – who was placed in the lock-ups for robbery under arms – confessed to starting the fire. Green reportedly confessed that he took a piece of sponge and wrapped it on a piece of wire which he lit and pushed through a ventilation hole in the cell over to a part that had some documents. (G2)
