Mohammed Shaffie called ‘Shabba’, the Riverview, Ruimveldt man who was stabbed in the neck on Sunday night remains hospitalized in the Intensive Care Unit of the Georgetown Public Hospital while his attacker appears to have fled the area.
Relatives of Shaffie, 22, said yesterday that that assailant, who is known to them, was taken away by relatives following the stabbing. At the hospital on Sunday night, Shaffie’s girlfriend, Michelle Thomas had told Stabroek News that they were at a bar at Riverview and Shaffie had indicated to her that the assailant had told him that he (Shaffie) was going “to pay for all that happen”. She said that the incident occurred later, at just about 9.30 pm. “The man just walk up and stab he,” she said noting that the knife was several inches long and was sharpened at both sides.
Friends had rushed Shaffie to the hospital after they said police at the Ruimveldt Police Station refused to help. Yesterday, he was hooked up to a life support machine in the ICU but was conscious, his sister, Radika, said. She said that nurses told the family that Shaffie is in a stable condition. He was able to talk to them briefly. “He seh [the assailant] juk he in he neck and he run away,” she recounted. She said her brother was taking oxygen and saline.
The woman said they also visited the police at the Ruimveldt Police Station yesterday for a medical and to enquire about the assailant. “All they tell we when we see the boy [the attacker] we must call them,” she said. According to her, the assailant was taken by relatives to the West Demerara where he has other relatives.
On Sunday night, the friends who rushed Saffie to the hospital blasted police at the Ruimveldt Police Station who they said refused to help and even put Saffie, who was barely able to move, out of the compound.
The police, the friends also said, refused to listen to them and did not go to arrest the assailant who was identified. “Before dem police help he, they just holler pon we,” one had said. According to one, they took Shaffie to the police station, located close-by, but the police said that they had no driver and “leh he dead right here”.
