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Writer's pictureShemar Alleyne

"Your daughter gah dead" – Ex-soldier tells mother-in-law after stabbing her daughter


The suspect, James Rodwell Cadogan and Zenida April in happier times

A former member of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), who reportedly stabbed his girlfriend eight times on Tuesday, has vowed to end her life while urging family members to save her “burial money.”

23-year-old Zenida April

23-year-old Zenida April, also a GDF rank, was attacked on Tuesday by her lover James Rodwell Cadogan, also known as “Roddy,” who has since gone into hiding. Zenida’s mother, Nevorn April, also received stab wounds during the brutal and vicious attack.


Following the incident, Cadogan sent a voice note on WhatsApp to his mother-in-law vowing to kill her daughter.


“…Your daughter gah dead. She wicked and is not a girl of her word. If you cannot be a girl of your word, you have to be a girl of the dirt,” Cadogan said in the voice note.


He added, “I tell her, don’t mek I got hate you, if I only have to hate you, I going hurt you… So said, so done. She mek I hate she and I tell you, any time she survive this, I going tell you again, none of you could promise she, none of you can’t find me I is no ease solider and none of you can’t find me.”


Cadogan further urged his mother-in-law to save her daughter’s burial money. He said: “I going hunt she like how police hunt thief. You going see…You bettas start save she burial money because I promise yuh duh.”


Zenida’s brother, Keyon April, related that his sister and the suspect were living at Paradise, East Coast Demerara (ECD), and were having domestic issues. He then threatened to stab her, which prompted her to stay with her mother.


On Tuesday, Keyon said he received a call from his mother, asking him to follow them to his sister’s home at Paradise, ECD, to pick up her belongings.


He claimed they stopped at the Vigilance Police Station to get a police patrol to go with them but were told that none was available and that they visit the Enmore Police Station.


Keyon said that Enmore Police Station did not have any patrol either, which prompted them to go to the house alone around 23:00h. According to the distraught brother, the suspect was in one of the bedrooms when they arrived.


[He was in one of the bedrooms] and he lock the door and do [what] he did… I go [through] the window, and he run out with a speed to the back in some bush. I could not [see] him,” Keyon recalled.


Zenida was rushed to the hospital, where she was admitted, and her condition was listed as “serious.”


“I stayed up and search for him but could not find him. I went to the station Wednesday morning to go show them where he lives and [they] never go till the night,” Keyon posited.


Calls today to Senior Superintendent Khali Pareshram, who is the Commander of the division, went unanswered.


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