Linden man who beat partner to head, critical following vigilante attack

-Relatives claim he attacked out of provocation, also was a
victim of physical abuse

A Linden man, identified as Anthony Luke, is in a critical condition at the
Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), following a vigilante attack  which occurred after
he allegedly beat his 31-year-old reputed wife to her head with a wood. She
suffered a fractured skull from the beating. Luke was then attacked by persons
and suffered head injuries and was seriously wounded in other parts of his body. On Friday, he had to undergo a
surgery at GPHC.  According to the police
report, Luke attempted to flee the scene when the victim’s uncle and nephew
were alerted and they went behind him along with other public-spirited
persons during which he was caught and assaulted before being handed over to
the police.

According to a relative, Luke was also a victim of physical
abuse in the relationship and the incident in question was stemmed out of
provocation. Luke recently reached out to family members expressing his frustration
over the way he was treated in the relationship, including being beaten. Two
nights before the incident, Luke secretly recorded a conversation between him
and his reputed wife and sent to his mother as proof of what was transpiring in
the relationship. In the recordings heard by INFO 10, Luke was confronting his
reputed wife about her beating him behind his head with a heavy object just the
night before. She was heard hurling expletives at him.  In a voice note sent to another relative, he
relayed how he was constantly experiencing physical, verbal and financial
abuse. The two shared a six-year-old relationship and two kids together. “She
try knocking me, she tried choking me, she pelt me with a tool to open the door
and I just in do nothing buddy, I just give up,” he was heard telling a family
member via voice note. “Just know that if I become a beast, I tried, I really
tried, I wuk and give she all me money…”

The family member said by time they got to the scene of the
attack, he was bleeding profusely and shackled by the police. His reputed wife was
leaving in the ambulance. “We are not saying he was right to hit her, he should
have walked away…….but he was abused too and we want his side to be told, we
also want the police to investigate who beat him and bring them to justice,”
the family member asserted. Luke is currently under police guard at GPHC, while
his reputed wife is also warded at the institution. Her condition is listed as
stable.

According to the victim’s 14-year-old son, about 17:00 hours last Tuesday,
the victim and suspect came home from work together and they went to the
eastern side of the house and began talking. He then saw the suspect go into
the house and then went back outside and he then heard the victim speaking in a
loud tone but could not hear exactly what she was saying because his computer
speakers were on.

He suddenly heard the victim scream and he rushed out to the side of the
house where he saw the victim laying face down motionless with the suspect
stooping over her with a piece of wood lashing to the back of her head. On
seeing that, he ran inside the house, grabbed a cutlass and returned to the
suspect who threw a longer wood at him, then ran into a gulley area.