– pastor’s wife wounded; owner in custody
By Zoisa Fraser
A pack of vicious dogs attacked and killed a 53-year-old security guard on the Ogle Airstrip Road, East Coast Demerara (ECD) shortly after six yesterday morning, before turning on a Goedverwagting woman.
Dead is Charles Roopchand of 2C Area H, Lusignan, ECD, while Desire London, the wife of Bishop Philbert London and resident of 123 Goedverwagting, ECD, was treated at the Georgetown Public Hospital for her wounds and sent away.
The animals, which according to reports were Pit Bulls, Rottweilers and German Shepherds, were captured by members of the police force’s canine squad and their owner taken into custody to assist with investigations. The police said yesterday that they have taken nine dogs into custody.
At the time of the attack, Roopchand was on his way to the GT&T cell site located farther south on the road, to relieve a colleague. London was headed in the same direction, on one of her routine early morning walks.
Reports indicated that the dogs had somehow managed to escape from their owner’s yard and were seen running around in a large pasture nearby. They first attacked Roopchand and he managed to jump over a drain that was half filled with water. However, he was pulled down by the dogs in another drain, a few feet away. There, the animals bit and clawed at his face and neck.
Just then, London approached, completely ignorant of what was occurring and two of the dogs turned on her. They first attacked at her legs, throwing her to the ground. However, she prayed and put up a fight with her hands. The dogs withdrew completely when former government minister Dr Dale Bisnauth approached with a stick.
London was subsequently taken to the hospital by her husband, while Roopchand’s body was taken to Lyken’s/Newburg Funeral home.
Police later arrived on the scene and captured the dogs. Their owner was taken to the Sparendaam Police Station for questioning.
Stabroek News was told that Roopchand had told a workmate, on several occasions, that the dogs would rush at him whenever he passed that area, though he’d never been bitten before. Other people also reported seeing the animals jumping against the fence which appears to be sturdy, on numerous occasions.
When Stabroek News arrived on the scene, the area was deserted, but numerous bloodstains were visible on the road. Blood was also evident in the muddied drain, where Roopchand took his last breath.
The house, which is the last on the eastern side of the road near a pasture that extends all the way to the entrance of the Ogle Aerodrome, was locked up and no one appeared to be home.
At her home, hours after the incident, London was still in her walking clothes which had specks of blood and was in noticeable pain. Both wrists and the lower part of her left foot were heavily bandaged.
Send the angels
Recounting her experience, London said she saw about four dogs running in the pasture. A young man, talking on a cellular phone, was walking ahead of her. All of a sudden, she said, two of the dogs attacked her legs. She said she fell, but kept trying to fend off the dogs with her right hand.
The young man, who she said was the owner of the animals, did not go to her aid; neither did a passing group of estate workers. She said that they all stood some distance away while the animals bit and pawed at her.
During the attack, the woman recalled, she just kept saying, “Holy Spirit send the angels”, and it was around this same time that Bisnauth arrived, armed with a stick.
London said that following the attack, she went to the house the dogs were from and spoke to the owner. She said she enquired as to the reason for the dogs being loose and he in turn asked her if she wanted to be taken to the hospital. London said she told the man that she had called her husband and he would take her to the hospital.
At that point, she was still unaware that the dogs had already killed someone. At the hospital, she said, her wounds were dressed and she was given an injection. She then journeyed to the Sparendaam Police Station where she made a statement. Her husband, Bishop London told this newspaper that he felt sorry for the owner.
“Her trauma for the dog bite is not nearly as much as what he is going through,” the pastor said adding that no human being would maliciously loose any dog to kill or bite a person.
He said one could only imagine the shock the man was in, but added that since the dogs have already tasted human blood, they would need to be put down.
At Roopchand’s house, there was intense grief. When Stabroek News arrived, his three sons, ages 23, 12 and ten years old, along with close relatives, were all standing in front of the building.
Roopchand’s wife, who had suffered a stroke some years ago, is bedridden.
With a dazed look in his eyes, Michael, the eldest of the three said that his father left for work around 5.30 am. He said the police at Sparendaam later called and informed him of the tragedy.
At the COPS headquarters in Lamaha Street, there was a similar atmosphere as his superiors and workmates expressed disbelief at the gruesome tragedy.
Chris Thompson, the Operations Manager said that Roopchand worked with the company from 1999 to November 2005 and then returned in June the following year.
The manager told this newspaper that after he failed to show up at work yesterday, his workmate, who he had to relieve, called his home and was told he had left for work. Thompson said he then received a call that a man wearing a COPS cap was lying at the side of the road.
Believing that the man might have collapsed, he said, he went to the scene only to find Roopchand with his throat and scalp ripped open. He said that at first, he could not even recognise the man, but the mouth was familiar.
Thompson said that from all appearance, when the dogs attacked him, he ran and his cap flew off. He said when he arrived on the scene, the employee was lying on his back.
While issuing a call for these types of dogs to be banned from Guyana, Thompson expressed concern for Roopchand’s family especially the children.
“Jailing him [the owner] doesn’t make sense, he should pay his [Roopchand’s] family, to help his three young children,” Thompson said, adding that he could only imagine what was going through Roopchand’s mind, while he was being attacked. Other employees expressed shock over the incident.
While in recent years, there have been no reports of killings by dogs, there have been several pit bull attacks. On February 29, two pit bulls attacked two residents of Tucville and two employees of the Guyana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, after a woman allegedly loosed them on a group of children who had been playing in the area. The woman was later charged and the matter settled in court after compensation was paid to those attacked.
Then on October 1 last year, two pit bulls attacked a 57-year-old jogger near Well Road, North Ruimveldt. The 13-minute ordeal left Lennox Wade, a miner/furniture manufacturer, with huge gouges in one of his legs and arms and countless bites about his body including his neck and back. He had to undergo several operations to repair his damaged ligaments and was to have gone overseas for treatment.
