Hubert Headley and the 1994 Buxton & Friendship massacre

I have read this case numerous times and i always find it interesting. There was so many times the massacre could have been prevented.

Hubert Headley - Life

Headley (alias Baby Arthur, Peck, and Shine Eye) was born on May 30, 1961 as the third of four sons of Hyacinth Arthur. He grew up in Friendship, and according to his niece, who was raised by his mother and went to school with him, his childhood was normal. He attended St. Anthony's Roman Catholic School in Buxton, then joined the Guyana National Service for two years, and used to play drums with the National Service Band in Cove and John. With a woman named Debbie he had a son, who was 13-years-old at the time of the murders, but they left him and moved away from the village many years prior.

After leaving the National Service Headley started to smoke ganja and later crack, which probably contributed to the decay of his mental health. He began to show signs of mental illness around 1983, or 1984, when he was committed to the observation ward at Georgetown Hospital. According to relatives and neighbours he behaved like a baby at the time, had to be bathed by one of his brothers, and threatened to rape his mother. He eventually escaped from the institution and returned home about two weeks later.

Headley frequently threatened the other villagers, including his mother, who repeatedly called police, but they rarely showed up, stating that they couldn't do anything, since he hadn't committed any offence. Around 1987 he hit his mother on the head with a cutlass, causing her to lose consciousness, and according to neighbours he attempted rape women on several occasions. He was an exhibitionist and once entered a house, where he gagged a girl, apparently with the intent of raping her. He also threatened a friend of his mother, who used to visit her often, with violence, and began to call her a "Bourda rat," until she told the man not to come to their house anymore.

In 1994 Headley was employed by the Guyana Telephone & Telegraph Company, but he left after about a month and then worked for a while as a security guard. He also made money by picking and selling coconuts, often begged his mother for money, and sold some of her belongings to finance his drug consumption. During his crack-induced trips Headley, a fan of British reggae-band UB40, often wrote disjointed and incomprehensible texts into an excercise book, some of which gave the impression of being attempts in song writing, parts of which read as follows:

"I got Jieasus on my mine
Who you tink would bie comeing"
and
"Warry murder Berbice you rum shop"
On the bottom of a page in his bible he also wrote the word "homiside" (sic). Headley was friend with two brothers named Goat and Errol, who were also addicted to drugs. One of the two was found dead in a house in November 1994, a couple of weeks prior to the murders. Around the same time Headley's mother and three children living with her spent a night with her daughter-in-law, after she became afraid of him, because he behaved strangely and went around the house in his shorts with an erect penis.

1994 Buxton & Friendship massacre

The exact sequence of the events is unclear.

On December 9, 1994 at around 5 p.m. Headley attacked his own mother with a machete at their home on 152 Middle Walk, Friendship and then went to attack a young girl. He then returned to his mother and killed her. He then went to the house of Otis Robinson and killed a 2-year-old boy playing in the yard that was with four other children. The other four other children escaped. He then attacked a girl standing at a lantern, she tried to escape but he caught her and killed her with a chop in the neck. Near Lot 150 he killed a dog with a chop to his neck. He also killed Maude Hatton. He attacked a boy in a bicycle, who managed to escape, and he then went to the Buxton Company Path. There he killed two men. When police started shooting him he began dancing and laughing. He was shot dead. All of the victims except for the 2-year-old were hacked in the neck, and their heads were almost severed.

Source: Amok Wiki

This is one of the saddest case i have ever read, because there's so many things that could get this prevented. What makes me sadder is that he had a normal childhood according to his family members, but the drugs destroyed his life. The victims whom i hope they are at a lifted level of peace are for the 2-year-old child and for the dog.

Very interesting, I rarely hear of massacres that happen in third world countries.

Tommy QTR wrote:

Very interesting, I rarely hear of massacres that happen in third world countries.

Sadly most cases happening in those areas are ignored until there are at least dozens or hundreds of people killed.