Rejection leads young lovers to double suicide
By Michel Outridge

Amanda's mother, Elizabeth Hernandes (in black) being comforted at the scene.
What appeared to be the start of a blooming relationship between two neighbours ended tragically yesterday when they took their own lives.

Dead are Amanda Hernandes, 11, of Lot 5 Public Road, Nouvelle Flounder, Crane, West Coast Demerara, and her neighbour, Zaheer Williams, 19, an electrical technician.

The young lovers were found hanging from a jamoon tree at Crane Old Road, in an old sugar estate yard near the rice fields not far from their home.

When the Guyana Chronicle visited the scene, their bodies had already been cut down from the jamoon tree and were lying side by side covered with a white salt bag. Minutes later, they were taken away to a funeral parlour.

Both victims had a green polytene rope tightly tied to their necks, with her tongues protruding.

The green polytene rope in the jamoon tree where the couple hanged themselves.
Amanda Hernandes' eyes were tightly shut with her legs very dark in complexion, indicating that she had died hours before the discovery.

Williams' eyes were half open.

Both lovers were fully clothed.

A note was reportedly found at the scene. Amanda and Zaheer stated that they wished to be buried separately and that they are sorry for what they did but they loved each other very much and could not bear to be without each other; so they decided to commit suicide.

According to Williams' mother, Naseema Haniff, shortly after dark her son was at home and the next thing she knew he was missing.

She said that her son did not indicate that he was going out and when she later discovered that her son's eleven-year-old lover was also missing, she immediately suspected that the two had gone off somewhere together.

Zaheer Williams and his 11-year-old fiancée, Amanda Hernandes after they were cut down from the tree.
The woman said that she was aware that the couple was in love and her son had approached Hernandes's mother as to his intentions toward her daughter. The woman reportedly told Williams that if he really loved her daughter that he would wait until she was older to get married.

After his proposal of marriage was rejected, Williams reportedly became very upset and lured the 11-year-old Hernandes into a suicide plot to end their lives together.

The landlord said that the couple was "much in love. Everyone knew about it and suspected that the child and her neighbour conspired to commit suicide."
Although a search was immediately launched for the missing couple, they were not found until about 1:30 pm. Williams's mother saw something hanging from the tree and upon closer inspection made the gruesome discovery.

It is suspected that the young lovers took their lives early that morning after spending the night together in the bushes.

According to reports, Hernandes and Williams were frustrated lately, having to meet each other very secretly because Hernandes was often scolded by her mother, Elizabeth Hernandes, 28, a single parent.

The former Rama Krishna Primary School student was described as a "very pleasant child." She and her five brothers and sisters moved with their Mom to Crane about three years ago.

"My son and I were very close but he never told me anything about how he really felt about Amanda. He took me everywhere, now he is dead."

Ms. Hernandes said she did not know what pushed him to "do this." She said her son "was such a good person" who was quiet. "I don't know what else to say; it is truly a shock," cried the woman.

There was an ongoing flow of residents at the scene where many expressed their feelings as they brace themselves for the facts about what led to the double suicide.

It is amazing how the couple were able to climb the tree, tie themselves with the rope and jump to their deaths side by side.

The police are continuing investigations.

Saturday, November 08, 2003