The maiming of a Mon Repos woman has left relatives pleading for justice and questioning why the police have not moved against her attacker.
Chandranie Gobin of Mon Repos Pasture, East Coast Demerara was hospitalized at the Georgetown Public Hospital in the Intensive Care Unit for four days nursing severe chop wounds to the head, back, arms and face, and at least two of her fingers were almost severed.
Gobin, age 58 years, was attacked in front of her home by a cutlass wielding assailant on Thursday last and relatives are struggling to find a motive. However, a son-in-law said that the woman has been feuding with residents nearby over a piece of land.
Gobin was transferred from intensive care on Tuesday, but her condition is being closely monitored by doctors at the hospital. Her relatives said that she is now able to communicate after four days of lying on a hospital bed unable to speak.
Stabroek News was told that Gobin was at home with her husband and two grand-daughters when the incident happened. Premnand Lall, her son-in-law, recounted that he left Gobin sitting in front of the home plying her trade as a small stallholder selling vegetables, among other items and headed home a short distance away. He later received a call that she was chopped up and lying in her yard bleeding.
“I run back to de house, meet she in a whole set ah blood and de man chap she up bad”, Lall said, recounting how Gobin was slipping in and out of consciousness. He related an account of the attack from Gobin’s husband who was home when a man approached her and started chopping just after 6pm on Thursday night last.
The attacker disguised with a large hat, which concealed his face, and he confronted Gobin while she was sitting outside the home with a grand-daughter. The man shoved the child away and started chopping the woman all over. Gobin’s screams alerted her elderly husband, who is also unwell, and he rushed to her rescue with a hammer. However, the attacker relieved him of the hammer.
Lall said the armed man paid no attention to the husband and turned his attention back to Gobin. He dealt her several chops about the body before fleeing the home on foot. He said that his mother-in-law had lost a lot of blood by the time they reached the hospital on Thursday night.
Lall said the police had detained a suspect, but released him even after a resident in the area provided a statement that the suspect was seen in the area with a cutlass around the time of the incident. He said the family needs justice for Gobin. “Dis man nearly kill she and nobody ain’t get charge or nothing…is like some people don’t get justice in this country which is why we come to de press…we wan de public know wha going on”, he added.
