The carpenter who was stabbed with a putty-knife last Thursday by his workmate, died on Monday night just after 20:30 hours at the Georgetown Public Hospital.
- Edwin Motoweren
Police said in a press release issued yesterday that the case has now become a murder investigation and the suspect had been arrested and is currently in police custody.
When Stabroek News visited Edwin Motoweren, 32, at the hospital last Saturday he had related that on Thursday night around 10.30 at a construction site at Parafield, West Coast Demerara, his attacker “sat and drink rum” while he was lying on the ground bleeding and then fled the scene early the following morning.
Motoweren had explained that earlier that day his employer had been proud of the work he and two other carpenters had done on a building they were constructing and had rewarded them “with a drink.” Motoweren said that after a few shots of rum he had returned to his work but one of his workmates, who was still drinking, asked him to stop working and rejoin him. He said that he declined “cause if I dey keep drinking I couldn’t ah work.” He went on to say that an argument erupted between him and the workmate who later picked up a putty knife and stabbed him once in the upper chest.
Motoweren had said that he fell and hit his head on the ground and had cried out in pain but his attacker “just sat and drink rum till de next morning when de boss man come back.” No one else was at the worksite at the time of the incident, he told this newspaper, and when his employer eventually appeared, his attacker got up and told him, “You would get de same treatment too.”
The attacker then fled the area. The employer soon got Motoweren into his bus and drove to the GPH where he received treatment for the stab wound.
Motoweren had also recalled an incident a year ago when he was sleeping at the home of his attacker, who was his friend at that time. He said he was suddenly awakened by a pain in his head, and he realised that the friend was lashing him with a piece of wood. “I dey forgive he then.”
Motoweren had told Stabroek News that a report would have been made to the police about the incident.
His death came as a shock to his family members who were at the hospital when Stabroek News had spoken to him since they were anticipating that he would have been discharged soon. They said they are awaiting a post-mortem report on his death.
Relatives said yesterday that the morning after, when Motoweren’s suspected attacker had fled the scene, he had passed their home and called out “Y’all see Edwin?” and continued on his way when no one answered him.
Motoweren will be buried tomorrow, relatives said.