A 30-year-old fisherman was on Mashramani Day beaten to death by four men, who afterwards reported to the police that he had assaulted them.
However, the quartet was later arrested by the police when the fisherman’s death was reported.
Deonarine Bangat of Cornelia Ida, West Coast Demerara was beaten to death by the four men after he reportedly told them to be quiet and pelted them with a glass bottle while they were chasing some dogs. Apparently this made the men angry as one of them was hit by the bottle.
Bangat’s grief-stricken mother, Dolarie Bangat was at home when she heard her son screaming for help as the men beat him about his body using pieces of wood and bamboo.
She told Stabroek News that on Mash day, her son was at home trying to sleep around 5:30 in the afternoon when the four men, who are known to the family, ran after some dogs in the area making noise. Bangat reportedly told them to be quiet and he pelted them with a bottle which hit one of them and broke. This apparently enraged the quartet and three of them began cursing him while the fourth returned home for two cutlasses. Taunting him, they called him out of his yard and he went. They then attacked him. Picking up pieces of wood and bamboo lying nearby they beat him about his body. Bangat began to holler and tried to run away from them, but they overpowered him. Relatives were unsure if the cutlasses were used.
Bangat’s mother said she saw them as they ran after him and “me hear the noise when he holler and me gan go meet am but they done beat am.” After running a short distance away, her son collapsed, she said, and the quartet ran away.
Other relatives, who were at home at the time, and heard the uproar ran out to render assistance but were too late. They arrived to find Bangat motionless in the grass. They picked him up and rushed him to the West Demerara Regional Hospital but he was pronounced dead on arrival.
His sister-in-law, who was one of the persons who accompanied him to the hospital, said all the while he was motionless and there was no blood on his body.
The relatives then made a report to the police at Leonora, where they discovered that the assailants had minutes before also made a report that Bangat had assaulted them. The police sent two of the men to the hospital for a medical, but Bangat’s sister-in-law had also called the police from the hospital informing them of the incident resulting in the detention of the two left behind. When the call was made from the hospital, it was not yet known that Bangat was dead.
After receiving the report of Bangat’s demise, the police picked up the other two and detained the quartet comprising of two brothers, their cousin and a friend.
Yesterday morning the police returned to the scene with the quartet, who after intense interrogation during which they reportedly tried to blame each other, had reportedly confessed to the deed, and the wood and bamboo used in the incident were recovered.
When Stabroek News visited the Cornelia Ida home of Bangat’s relatives yesterday, his mother was inconsolable as she tried to come to grips with her youngest son’s death. “What me gon do? Dem come to his house and kill am”, she cried as relatives tried to console her. Bangat’s sandals were still lying in the path through which he had fled from his attackers and his toothbrush was lying in the grass where he had fallen.
Relatives said he worked on an ocean-going vessel and had only returned home from the sea on Monday; he had been scheduled to return to work yesterday. They described him as a quiet person who was never in trouble. His mother said that he was a loving son and would usually play with her and occasionally cook for her.
