A 51-year-old Bartica miner was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital in the mining community after he was chopped about the body by another man in the Cuyuni/Mazaruni area on Saturday afternoon.
Dead is Jerry Primo of Lot 69, Third Avenue, Bartica. Commander of E&F Division of the Guyana Police Force, David Ramnarine confirmed yesterday that Primo sustained chop wounds to his body sometime on Saturday in the Puruni area. He said the man was rushed to the Bartica Hospital but died from his wounds sometime during Saturday night.
The commander was high in praise for a miner who is a rural constable in the area whom he said arrested the suspect and handed him over to ranks at the Enachu Police Station. Ranks of the police station arrived on the scene sometime later.
“I must say thanks to the rural constable who did excellent work and held the suspect and kept him until the ranks arrived. This rural constable has been supporting the police over the years and I must give kudos where kudos is due,” the Commander said.
Ramnarine said that a team of detectives from the Bartica Police Station have since journeyed to the area to conduct investigations but communication with the ranks has not been good and as such he is yet to learn of the circumstances surrounding the incident.
The man’s mother Edith Hopkinson, told Stabroek News from Bartica yesterday that she was told that her son was chopped on the right hand by another man during an altercation in a mining area at the Puruni Backdam on Saturday. She said that her son was brought out of the mining area to Bartica later that afternoon and arrived in the mining community around 9 pm on Saturday.
According to the grieving woman, hospital staff contacted the family an hour later asking if they were related to the man, and according to her, news of her son’s passing soon reached the family. She said she was told that Primo, who had been a miner for most of his life, died on the way out of the backdam area. He had no children. The woman noted that Primo’s colleagues reported that he lost a lot of blood following the incident.
According to his mother, Primo only travelled to the area some two months ago and she noted that he previously worked at other mining areas around the country.
The man’s body is at the Lyken’s Funeral Home in the city awaiting a post-mortem examination.
