The condition of the 16-year-old girl who was brutally chopped with a cutlass by her lover at Big Creek Backdam, North West District (NWD) is said to be improving and she was yesterday transferred to the High Dependency Unit (HDU).
The girl had been a patient of the Intensive Care Unit since she was air dashed from Port Kaituma Hospital to the Georgetown Hospital last Tuesday and was on life support.
Hospital officials told this newspaper that she was transferred to the HDU some time yesterday morning.
The teen, according to officials, sustained a gaping wound about six inches long to her head in addition to numerous chops about the body. She has managed to open her right eye but the other is still swollen shut.
This newspaper was told that the teen cannot speak but would respond when spoken to be moving her eyes and her foot.
This newspaper understands that the girl’s mother and father are unable to travel to the city to see her because they have no money.
Meanwhile, a senior police official said yesterday that a roving patrol is still in the North West area looking for the suspect, a 22-year-old man from the Pomeroon River. Persons close to the case have clarified that the suspect is in charge of his father’s dredge operation and is not a dredge owner as was previously reported. They said that it is widely believed that he has fled to neighbouring Venezuela via the Five Star backdam area.
The chopping, which occurred around midnight two Sundays ago, came after the suspect reportedly caught the teen in a compromising position with Junior Joseph, a 22-year-old employee of the dredge operation. Joseph was chopped to death during the incident.
Joseph’s sister Nakeysha told Stabroek News yesterday that he was buried in Essequibo on Saturday. She said the family has received no update from the police. The grief-stricken woman said that the family is becoming worried since the suspect is yet to be caught but expressed hope that the man will soon be captured soon.
Joseph began working for the suspect a few months ago.
Based on the information provided to this newspaper, the girl began a relationship with the suspect shortly after he moved to the area, less than a year ago. He has been renting a house at Oronoque, Port Kaituma.
Stabroek News later learnt that the suspect first met the teen at a Kayamoo – a barrack-like accommodation for sex workers – where she was employed. He later took her to his mining camp to stay there with him.
The Child Care and Protection Agency along with the Ministries of Amerindian Affairs and Human Services have launched an investigation into how the girl ended up living in a mining camp.
The man had suspected that the girl was being unfaithful to him and decided to hatch a plan to catch her in the act.
Days before the incident the man travelled out of the area leaving his girlfriend in charge of the camp and some time later informed her that he was sending in supplies for the dredge and would travel to the location two or three days after.
Last Monday, as promised, the man sent in a 4×4 vehicle loaded with supplies for the dredge and caught another vehicle which travelled closely behind.
Reports are that when the man arrived at his camp he found Joseph and the teen in a compromising position and went berserk.
From all indications, he caught Joseph off guard and began chopping him on his neck as the teen stood helplessly nearby. When Joseph’s neck was almost severed from his body, the man turned his attention and his cutlass on the teen.
