Kilcoy, Corentyne cane harvester Tilackdharry “Chanu” Singh died on Thursday afternoon at the New Amsterdam Hospital (NAH), two days after he was reportedly beaten by a rural constable (RC).
The RC was arrested and taken into custody before the man’s death. It is unclear what prompted the attack, but reports are that on Tuesday afternoon he allegedly kicked Singh about the body, from his chest to his groin area, as he lay helpless on the ground.
Singh, 43, was first treated at the Port Mourant Hospital, where he was given two injections and sent home. After he continued to complain about pain, his family took him to the NAH, where he was admitted and his family was told that he had a 50/50 chance of survival.
Singh’s mother, Jamoona Singh, 65, told Stabroek News that he was beaten on Tuesday afternoon. A resident called and informed that “somebody beat Chanu and he get blackout.” When she and other relatives arrived at the scene, there was a large crowd and her son was lying on his side with his feet pulled in.
He had regained consciousness and he told her who had beaten him and said he wanted to go to the doctor.
The woman said she learnt that her son was beaten after his neighbour sent him to the RC’s house to pick up her two-year-old daughter. The woman said her son was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident.
Jamoona Singh said she went over to the nearby Albion Police Station to make a report and was given a medical form, while her daughter tried to take the injured man to the Port Mourant Hospital.
At the hospital, a nurse instructed her to put her son in the wheelchair. “Ah show she the paper that the police give me and she keep asking if ‘this is the person who kidnap the lil child.’ Me tell she me don’t know anything about that and if she don’t take the paper ah going back
to the police,” the woman pointed out. She said shortly after a doctor arrived and Singh was treated and sent home.
According to the woman, her son “toss and groan in pain the whole night” on Tuesday. She said that the following morning, they took Singh to the NAH, where the doctor informed that his condition was “half and half.”
She said, “He tell me that me son inside damage up and that he would have to get emergency surgery and me start fuh cry.” Her son also kept saying that he was “in a lot of pain and he would not make it.”
According to the woman, early last month her son, who was intoxicated, was cursing loudly while in his house. She said the same RC went into the house and beat her son with a cutlass, leaving him with his right eye swollen and black and blue. She took him to the station and the police told them to go first to the hospital. The next day they returned to the station and another
rank told them he was not there when they went the previous night and he could not do anything.
