Twenty-nine-year-old Keith Cox who was severely burnt by his girlfriend with hot oil to his face and other parts of his body while asleep is still a patient at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) where he continues to recover.
A cousin of the patient who requested to remain anonymous told Stabroek News yesterday that according to his doctor, he is recovering rapidly. This was evident when this newspaper visited him at his Ward B2 bed.
Cox can now speak clearly and stand and sit up once again but he was unable to do so just after the incident. According to Cox, apart from occasional pains and what he described as “the terrible process of physiotherapy” he continues to feel a little stronger every day.
When asked about the incident, he declined to speak. He told Stabroek News that he would be more than willing to provide his version of what had happened but he had given the police a lengthy statement moments before and preferred not to go through the psychological trauma so soon again.
Meanwhile, according to his cousin, the perpetrator is expected to make her first court appearance on May 11 at the Sparendaam Magistrate’s Court.
Cox of 12 Pollydore Street, Lodge was asleep at his girlfriend’s Sophia home on April 7 when she doused him with hot oil.
Speaking to this newspaper, Cox’s cousin had said that at approximately 2:30 pm on April 7 she was alerted through a telephone call that her cousin had been badly burnt. “I get a call saying that Keith geh burn bad an we must guh to de hospital.” The relative explained that based on information she had received, the victim’s girlfriend of three months alleged that he had beaten her earlier in the day and as a result she waited until he was asleep, placed some oil on the fire to boil and then drenched him with it.