A Golden Grove man was electrocuted yesterday when he came into contact with a live wire atop a lamppost a short distance from his home.
Lennox Alexander, 33, of 77 Golden Grove, East Coast Demerara was pronounced dead on arrival at the Georgetown Public Hospital. His death has divided a section of the large community, with many saying that he was called out of his home to do dirty work.
There are conflicting accounts in relation to what happened to Alexander. It is clear that he was on the post fixing a wire, but while some said he was merely trying to repair a broken streetlight, others said he was called to do an illegal connection.
Alexander was known in the area as the man with a little knowledge about electrical matters and persons were in the habit of asking him to do work for them. This is according to the man’s mother, Jennifer Alexander, who told Stabroek News yesterday that her son was at home having a meal when someone from the road called him.
“He was here good good eating when someone from the street call he and ask he to do something for them. So he get up and left. I had no idea where he was going but I never saw him again until the news reach me,” the mother related.
The woman said Alexander left around 9.25 am with the individual who had called out to him and apparently climbed up the lamppost. Based on the reports she received, he was on the post fixing wires when he came into contact with a live wire, some five minutes after leaving home. He was electrocuted and was left hanging from the post for a short while before he crashed to the ground. When he fell, Alexander was still breathing so persons close by rushed him to the city but by the time they arrived at the hospital it was already too late.
According to the mother, someone delivered the news that her son had a fall but no information was provided as to what happened. She later learnt that he had been electrocuted, but this was after he had left for Georgetown. She said the people who called him out must have had a reason for doing so but whatever it was, it cost Alexander his life and deprived her of her youngest child.
This newspaper spoke with a few persons in the area yesterday who claimed to have witnessed the incident. One woman said the streetlights in the area had stopped working for some time now and Alexander would often remark he would fix them one day. She said he decided to work on that particular one yesterday morning when he was electrocuted. According to her, no one called him from his home since he already had a plan to start working on the lights.
She said Alexander had a fairly good knowledge of electrical work and seemed to know what he was about. According to her electricity theft is not a practice people in the area subscribe to because they pay bills. The woman said the people who were circulating information about illegal connections needed to recheck their facts because not a single person being blamed for the death was stealing electricity.
However, another woman in the area said Alexander was at home eating when he got the call to go fix a wire for someone in the area. She said the man left his home and went to the lamppost where he started working on an illegal connection to a home. It was while connecting the wires that he was electrocuted.
The man’s mother said she did not have all the facts to say what her son was doing. What she knows is that he is not coming back. Alexander had no children but is survived by three siblings and his parents.
