Three young men were beaten with sticks and chopped at Non Pareil village, East Coast Demerara yesterday and police are investigating conflicting reports about the motive for the attack.
The incident occurred at Kelman Street just after midday, where some residents said that the men attempted to invade a closed shop, while others say that they were simply attacked upon being spotted in the area.
Brothers Radovan Answick, 18, and Shaquille Answick, 17, of Lot 29 Company Road Buxton, along with the third injured youngster, 16, were all transported to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) last night by police, where they received treatment. The third youngster was allegedly beaten with a piece of wood. Another youngster, Lancelot Griffith, 17, managed to escape the attack on his bicycle. This newspaper understands that all of them were on bicycles at the time, but the three injured dropped theirs and attempted to flee from their attackers in vain.
According to an eyewitness, known as “Bushby,” he was alerted to the attack by a neighbour and saw about three men exit a white vehicle armed with a piece of wood. These men, he said, proceeded to beat one of the young men, while the others unsuccessfully attempted to flee. Upon seeing this, the man said he rushed to find out the cause of the attack and was told by the assailants that “this is a robbery… they went and rob Monica shop.”
Upon hearing this, Bushby asked the villagers why they didn’t take the men to the station while attempting to restrain them. He then noticed another of the three victims lying on the ground, “tie up like a ‘guana,” and he, Bushby related, was hit in the head with the wood by one of the attackers.
Another eyewitness, Vanessa Baker, who was the only female at the scene, told this newspaper that at that moment one of the attackers emerged from the car and threatened the beaten men and she too pleaded for them to be taken to the police station.
However, this apparently fell on deaf ears, as the man from the car attacked one of the young men. As a result, Baker said she intervened and held the attacker’s arm and tried to restrain him from doing anymore damage. While she was doing this, Baker related, yet another attacker approached her from behind, but he was stopped from laying hands on her by another group of young men who were working on a nearby building. These men, upon seeing the commotion, also hurried out to render some assistance.
During this time, a group of Community Police arrived and they took the injured men to the Buxton Health Centre. A relative of one of the injured told this newspaper that they were later taken to another health centre in Nabaclis, following which they were transported to the Vigilance Police Station to give statements.
According to Corretta Paul, the mother of the youngest among the injured, her son and the other three youngsters had just left work in search of a meal when the incident occurred. She said they went to the shop to purchase drinks.
When Stabroek News visited the shop that the four young men had allegedly tried to rob in Non Pareil, the proprietrix was not at home. However, her husband, Nazir Abdul, who was absent when the incident occurred, related that he received a call from his wife telling him that “four boys jus’ try to get into the store.” Upon his arrival at the scene, he was told that the young men had been “racking” an inside door leading to the section of the store beyond the counter. He said his wife’s niece was present when the young men entered and she raised an alarm to her aunt, who in turn alerted neighbours. It was at her cry, he said, that residents nearby emerged and apprehended the “culprits.”
However, this newspaper was told that the four boys are masons who have been working in the area for the past 10 days for Novad Investment, a construction company in Buxton. According to a representative from the company, they are currently working on a housing project in the Scheme for a government ministry.
One of the group’s supervisors, Richard Parris, related that the young men would normally bring their meals but yesterday they told him their mothers did not prepare a meal for them so they planned to return home for lunch. As a result, he said he gave them permission to go on lunch sometime after midday.
