Little stabbing victim Amor with his father, shared by his school on its Facebook page.
PARAMARIBO, Suriname--Suriname has entered the new year under a cloud of renewed shock after an eight-year-old boy was killed in his sleep by his stepmother in the early hours of January 1, 2026.
Dead is Jaden Amor Bhola, who had been spending New Year’s Eve at his father’s residence on Calcuttastraat in southern Paramaribo. His murder, the first to be reported in 2026, comes on the heels of a mass stabbing incident a few days earlier that had also sent shock-waves through the country.
Police have reported that 23-year-old Mamchella T. fatally stabbed her stepson Jaden shortly after the year turned. Preliminary investigations indicate the suspect was under the influence of alcohol and acted out of anger following a dispute with the child’s father.
Reports are that the father had briefly stepped outside to accept a glass of whisky from a neighbour, which reportedly triggered the suspect’s rage. On his return, the argument escalated rapidly. The woman allegedly locked the man out of the house, caused damage to household property and threatened to harm the child, who was asleep at the time.
Despite the father’s attempts to regain entry, the situation spiralled out of control. Investigators say the suspect armed herself with a knife and went into the bedroom where the boy was sleeping. When the father eventually managed to get inside, he found his son critically wounded. The child briefly regained consciousness but succumbed to his injuries shortly thereafter.
When police officers arrived at the scene at approximately 1:02am, they encountered the boy’s lifeless body bearing multiple stab wounds. The suspect was arrested immediately.
Mamchella T. at first attempted to shift blame onto the father, but this was contradicted by a neighbour, who told police he had restrained the woman until authorities arrived and corroborated the father’s account.
The Dennis Aroma case
The killing comes just days after Suriname experienced a separate mass domestic-violence tragedy, probably the worst ever in the South American nation.
Dennis Aroma, whom neighbours have characterised as a hard-working farmer, snapped on Sunday night, December 28, and killed nine people, including four of his own children, in the eastern district of Commewijne. Aroma was reportedly known in the neighbourhood for recent psychological instability. He reportedly had been admitted at least once into psychiatric care.
Two people survived the attack: a 16-year-old girl, Aroma’s oldest daughter, and a 72-year-old neighbour. Both had been critically injured and were transported to the hospital in Paramaribo.
Aroma was arrested near the scene and police said that when he attacked officers with the knife, they opened fire on him, hitting him in his legs.
President Jennifer Geerlings-Simons announced on Sunday that Government would foot the funeral bills; subsequently Government declared today, Friday, January 2, 2026, a National Day of Mourning in response to the tragedy.
Then on Monday, December 29, news broke that Aroma had died while in police custody. During an impromptu press briefing on Tuesday to address widespread speculation and criticism on social media surrounding the suspect’s death, police were quick to explain that Aroma’s death had been self-inflicted. Police spokesman Michel Elskamp said that while in a special holding cell at the police station the suspect had used medical bandages that had been used to dress his gunshot wounds.
Elskamp explained that Aroma had been held alone in a special cell and not with other detainees; he stressed that police could not have foreseen that the suspect would use the bandages to take his own life.
Unrelated murder
Police are also investigating the suspected killing of 59-year-old shopkeeper G.L., who was found dead on Wednesday afternoon in his store along Commissaris Roblesweg in Nieuw-Amsterdam, also in district Commewijne. The man’s lifeless body was found by a child who had gone to the store to buy groceries. The body was transported to the mortuary of Academic Hospital Paramaribo for further examination. Despite a neighbourhood canvass, no decisive leads have yet emerged, and police have appealed to the public for assistance.
