A grieving Sobers Dunkley (centre) is consoled by his equally grieving daughters, Trecia (left) and Sandria, at his home in Bottom Pen, St James, on Tuesday. Dunkley's wife of 15 years and mother of the two girls was killed in a family feud on Monday. Her brother Kenroy was killed in the same incident. - Photo by Adrian Frater

Western Bureau:

Residents of Bottom Pen, St James, were in a daze this week as they reflected on Monday's shooting and chopping incident, which left a businesswoman and her brother dead and their sister behind bars, facing double murder charges.

Under police guard

The dead persons have been identified as 41-year-old Dahlia Stewart-Dunkley and her 37-year-old brother Kenroy Stewart. A sister of the slain duo was arrested and charged in connection with the killing while her boyfriend, who was also injured in the mêlée and is under police guard in hospital, is also expected to be charged.

"I ran to her assistance but it was too late," said Sobers Dunkley, the husband of the deceased woman, who witnessed the ugly incident that claimed his wife of 15-years. "She died in my hands ... . She was my childhood sweetheart."

Reports are that shortly after 6:00 p.m. on Monday, a quarrel among the children of family members, who have been locked in a long-standing dispute over a family house, turned ugly when their parents intervened, attacking each other with machete and stones.

Grieving father

During the ensuing mêlée, Stewart-Dunkley reportedly pulled her licensed firearm but was chopped and disarmed by her sister, who used the firearm to shoot her twice in her stomach. The shooter's boyfriend, identified as Mark 'Puss' Russell, is said to have also opened fire on Stewart-Dunkley and her brother Kenroy, who had run to her assistance with an illegal firearm.

"Is me aunty and her boyfriend shoot me mother and me uncle,' said 11-year-old Trecia Dunkley, as she hugged her grieving father. "Dem wicked but I know God going to deal with dem."

After the shooting, other family members reportedly attacked and disarmed Russell and his girlfriend, inflicting several wounds on them. They were both taken to the Cornwall Regional Hospital where Russell was admitted and the women released into the custody of the police.

The police, who were on their way to the scene at the time of the killing, having been summoned by residents when it became apparent the quarrel was getting out of hand, recovered an illegal .45 colt pistol at the crime scene.

"They have been warring for years and the police have been summoned on several occasions," said a resident of the area. "I guess it was destiny that it should end like this."