A 54-year-old itinerant vendor was fatally beaten in his Montrose, East Coast Deme-rara home yesterday after being accused of stealing a cellular phone.
Dead is Harold Gobin of Montrose. He had moved to the community from Berbice just about two months ago and was a “walk and sell” vendor. Up to yesterday afternoon, the suspect was not apprehended by police.
The police, in a statement, said that investigations into the murder revealed that a man, who had accused Gobin of stealing his cellular phone, went to his home yesterday morning and wrenched open the door with a hammer. The man then dealt Gobin several blows to his head and other parts of his body with the hammer and escaped, the police said. The injured man was later taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC), where he succumbed to his injuries while receiving medical attention.
Recalling the incident yesterday, the dead man’s son, Shan Gobin, told Stabroek News that he was asleep when he was awakened by the door being wrenched open. The incident occurred at about 5:30 am.
The assailant, he said, was a frequent visitor to a shop in the area. Shan related that the attacker asked him where his father was. “I seh he deh pon the verandah and so he gan to the verandah and start asking me old man for some phone what he pick up in the shop and start beating he with the hammer”, the grieving man said.
Shan said that the man continued beating his father despite the now dead man insisting that he had no knowledge about the phone. “I tell he left the man now nah…he tell me shut me mouth or else me gon get am too”, Shan said adding that he was afraid and was downstairs while his father was being beaten.
A neighbour, who was awakened by the fight, told this newspaper that she watched as Gobin was beaten with the hammer and said that his attacker also picked him up and threw him on the ground a number of times. “He really beat the man bad”, she commented. Gobin sustained severe injuries to his head and other parts of the body.
Relatives said that after the five-minute attack, the assailant went downstairs. He reportedly stated that he would give them up to midday, when he would return, to get the phone.
After the man left, relatives went upstairs to the battered and bleeding Gobin. “I go up and put ice on me father. I ask if he want to go to the hospital and he sey no”, Shan recalled. He said that around 10 am, Gobin, in severe pain, asked him to call an ambulance.
A taxi was called instead and he was taken to the hospital. Relatives stated that parts of the man’s body were swollen and he had begun bleeding out of his nose and mouth. He could not stand on his own also. Shortly after arriving at the GPH and while he was being treated, Gobin died.
The police had been notified and took statements from Shan and others. Shan said that his father never had any problems with the man before. Gobin is survived by his four children and other relatives.
(Gaulbert Sutherland)
