By Oluatoyin Alleyne
The last thing 17-year-old Nigel Torres’s mother remembers about him was his request for a bed sheet to take to his mining job at Lindo Creek, Berbice River.
The young man’s mother, Yonette Torres, yesterday told Stabroek News from her Kwakwani home that initially she had been reluctant to send her son to the location but because she knew the manager of the camp, Bonny Harry, she decided to send him.
Today she is regretting it, as the young man and his seven colleagues were murdered and their bodies burnt at their mining location.
Others who lost their lives in the bizarre incident are Lancelot Lee or South Ruimveldt, Clifton Young of Norton Street, Horace Drakes and Compton Speirs of Meten-Meer-Zorg, Bonny Harry of Essequibo, Cecil Arokium of Rose Hall, Berbice and Dax Arokium of South Ruimveldt. The two Arokiums were the brother and son respectively of the mining camp owner, George Arokium.
According to Torres, it was the first trip to that mining camp for her son. “He work in the bush before but never at that camp. I didn’t want him to go because he had trouble before with payment when he work in the bush. But he father say he young and let he go if he want,” the woman said. She said her decision to send him was also made after she considered that she had known Bonny Harry for a while and it was he who had asked her to send the boy.
“Uncle Harry was like a family friend because whenever he passing through to go to the camp he would stay here and so on. So he was like a family,” the woman said. She said her son left for the camp about a month ago. She could not recall the correct date.
The last time she saw her son he was packing to leave and he asked her for a bed sheet. She gave it to him and then left for church. On her return, her son had already left.
According to the Yonette Torres, some time after the group left for the mining camp, Harry returned to Kwakwani and reported that an engine had broken down. She said he made contact with George Arokium from her home. Shortly after contact was made, the woman said, George Arokium sent up some spare parts for the engine and Harry left again for the camp.
“The problem is, I cannot remember the date. The next date that I can’t remember is the date when I see the boss man son [Dax Arokium] at the waterfront and he tell me that he carrying in ration (grocery) for them boys,” Yonette Torres said.
According to her, around that time, members of the Joint Services were in Kwakwani searching for the bandits and she warned the young man to be careful even as she was thinking about the safety of her son.
She said that it was shortly after Dax Arokium left that the law men had a confrontation with bandits at Christmas Falls and she became very worried for her son. However, she said, she became more fearful after bandits robbed a minibus at Goat Farm. According to Yonette Torres, it was reported that during the robbery the bandits had informed the passengers that they knew they were going to die because “the soldiers and police had shot and burned some miners” in a mining camp.
“I get worried right away and I call Mr Arokium and I tell he what I hear. He tell me how the camp is far from there, but I still tell he to come up and let we go and see everything is alright. And then he said yes we should go and see what happen, but I never hear back from he,” the grieving mother said.
She said she later saw George Arokium driving through Kwakwani in a vehicle, possibly on his way to the camp. She said she was sitting on her stairs, but he did not stop at her home.
The woman said she later read about the incident in the newspaper and “rumours have been flying.”
She said Nigel was the second to last of 13 children and was a very “mannerly and respectable child. He would always help me out, he would weed the yard clean and plant in it.”
Nothing to bury
Over at Harry’s Zorg, Essequibo Coast home, his grieving wife told this newspaper that she learned of her husband’s death through her father-in-law.
“Only bones. Imagine, only bones. What are we going to bury?” she asked tearfully.
The widow said that with the heavy presence of the Joint Services in the area, she felt the discovery should have been made earlier.
Mrs Harry told Stabroek News that it was heart wrenching to know that only three weeks ago she spoke with her husband, the bread winner of the family, and now all she can hear about is bones. The woman said she wants justice served and questions answered.
The 50-year-old Harry has left to mourn his father, wife, three daughters aged 28, 26 and 22, two grandchildren and other relatives and friends.
Meanwhile, relatives and friends of Wong and Lee are still calling for answers about their deaths.
Wong’s wife yesterday said she still could not believe that he was dead was still hoping he would walk through the door. This was the man’s second trip to that location but he had worked at several other interior locations since he was a mechanic.
Lee’s relatives said they have finally made contact with Arokium but he has not been able to give them any new information. Both families are hoping that they would be given some answers and get some form of closure. (Additional reporting by Diane Gonsalves)