RELATIVES of 42-year-old Zada Bartley, who is believed to have been slaughtered by her common-law husband minutes before he took his own life at Monza in Greater Portmore, St Catherine yesterday, are baffled as to the motive behind her death.

Bartley was found gasping for breath shortly after 3:00 am by one of her four daughters.

One of Zada Bartley's daughters, identified only as Kerry-Ann (left), wipes tears from her face as she is comforted by a relative. (Photo: Michael Gordon)

The children said they heard screams coming from the bedroom she shared with her partner of more than 10 years, Patrick Robinson.

Her body was covered in blood, the bedroom window was half-open and Robinson, whom Bartley had earlier went to bed with, was nowhere in sight, relatives said.

His corpse, according to the police, was later found hanging by a piece of rope from a tree along the nearby Braeton Parkway.

The horrific incident shocked residents of the community, many of whom sat with glum expressions as they watched Bartley's distraught relatives attempt to console each other at the entrance to the couple's house.

"Everyone just want to know why. Why him would do this to my sister, what happen?" asked Judith Bartley, Zada's older sister.

"Everywhere they go is the two of them. If it is a function, is the two of them; if it is a party, is the two of them; is about 15 years now they are together, they do everything as a couple. I never heard of them having a fight yet until today when I heard that my sister dead, right now I don't even know what to say."

Robinson was a mechanic at Alex's Import Limited while Bartley was employed at the Jamaica Container Repair Services Limited. Both had purchased the two-bedroom house together, relatives said.

According to Deputy Superintendent of Police Carl Malcolm, of the Greater Portmore Police Station, a domestic dispute might have led to the incident.

"It appears there was a dispute between the two of them which ended how it did. That is the direction in which our investigation is pointing at the moment," said Malcolm.

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