The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

A 61-year-old Long Island man was arraigned in a Magistrate’s Court yesterday in connection with a cutlass attack on that island last week that left his wife dead and her mother in serious condition in hospital.

Phillip Coleman Dean, of Taits, Long Island, stood before Chief Magistrate Joyann Ferguson-Pratt facing one count each of murder and attempted murder in connection with the September 2 incident.

It is alleged that Dean murdered 54-year-old Eleanor Dean on the day in question, and also attempted to murder Hilda Taylor, her mother.

According to initial police reports, Eleanor Dean, a mother of eight, and her mother were in their Long Island home on the day in question when a man known to them entered the house and “chopped” the two women with a cutlass, causing serious injuries.

The younger victim died on the scene, while her elderly mother who recently had a stroke, was airlifted to New Providence, and was listed in serious condition, according to initial reports.

Police, who had been searching for a male relative of the victims in connection with the killing, arrested Dean a day later.

Dean was not required to enter a plea and the matter was adjourned to October 16 for service of a voluntary bill of indictment. He was remanded to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services in the interim.