Cuffy tried to kill me many times

JOANNE JAMES CUFFY, wife and mother of five, is shedding tears of both relief and sorrow over the death of Joel Cuffy, who was stabbed to death at his Gasparillo home last week, allegedly by a male relative. Cuffy, former wife of the dead man, cried bittersweet tears over the fact that years of abuse and torment were finally over, but she was also mourning the death of the father of her children. Cuffy who visited Newsday’s South Bureau yesterday to give her story said her dead husband treated her like an animal. “He even made me sleep in a canefield at one time,” Cuffy sobbed as she related what it was like to live with her deceased husband. Joel Cuffy, 46, was stabbed by a male relative last week during an argument over a lightbulb between Cuffy, his daughter and a male relative at their Parforce Road home in Gasparillo.

Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions (South) Roger Gaspard has since ordered an inquest into the killing to determine culpability. The relative who allegedly stabbed Cuffy has been released. Joanne, 44, said Cuffy was a vicious person. She said Cuffy once threw a full 20lb LPG gas tank at her, which left her with a broken wrist. “I always used to leave Cuffy and go back for the sake of the children,” Joanne said as she wiped away tears. Joanne, who bore Cuffy’s five children, said she lived in a common-law relationship with him for 23 years, until they were married eight years ago. Describing Cuffy as a compulsive gambler, she recalled that earlier this year, Cuffy attempted to burn down the family home while she was asleep inside. “I saw him coming with the bottle in his hand. He threw it on top the bed where I was sleeping,” Joanne said. Cuffy suffered burns while the mattress and roof were scorched. In that incident, Joanne said, she fled the matrimonial home and spent the night sleeping in a canefield. Joanne displayed scars on her back which she claimed were inflicted by Cuffy.

She said Cuffy used to search all hours of the night in the canefield at the back of the house, for her. “I used to have to make different tracks in the canefield, so he would not know where I was,” Joanne said. Joanne said she filed a domestic violence case in the San Fernando Magistrates’ Court against Cuffy. Case No. 7489 of 1999, prohibited Cuffy from assaulting, beating or in any way engaging in behaviour constituting a Domestic Violence Order against the applicant (Joanne). That case arose out of an incident in which Cuffy chased Joanne around the house with a pitch-fork as he tried to stab her. Joanne said the pitch-fork spikes struck her toes. She said she left the matrimonial home about a year ago. “I faced death already many times with this man. I feel sorry he had to go this way, but in my heart I am relieved,” Joanne said. The woman noted that as she buried her husband last Sunday, she said a silent, heartfelt prayer: “God rest his soul.”