A 20-year-old man was yesterday morning brutally murdered during an attack by three men who battered him with pieces of wood, bottles and other implements in front of a Lusig-nan, East Coast Demerara (ECD) nightspot.
Shocked relatives of Dhanraj Budhan call ‘Toy’ said they are confused as to what led to the attack and called upon the police to do a thorough investigation. Police, in a statement, said that at around 2.30am yesterday, Budhan, of Lot 160 Mon Repos, ECD, “was engaged in an altercation with three men at Lusig-nan, ECD, during which he was allegedly beaten with pieces of wood, bottles and other articles.”
He was pronounced dead at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) and one man was arrested and is currently under guard at the GPH with a wound in his back.
According to a friend of the young man, they had gone to the Fantasy Nightclub in Lusignan for a rare evening out and they were enjoying themselves when Budhan left to go outside for some fresh air. He said that shortly after, they heard a commotion outside as bottles were being broken and they rushed out to see what was happening.
“When I guh I see me friend lying on the road a man deh over [him] with a bottle and a wood lashing and juking…I rush and I tek the man from over he and I see he with all he tongue gone back and he eye roll up and I try to pull he tongue forward you know because is like he want breathe…” the friend told Stabroek News.
The young man said that when he lifted Budhan’s jersey, he saw a huge stab wound in his stomach and he immediately held onto the assailant. He said that while he wanted to take his friend to the hospital immediately, he also did not want his attacker to escape so he held onto him until a rural constable came and handcuffed him. “Nuff man been want the man get away but I hold he and I telling dem boys carry Toy to the hospital but dem like dem frighten,” he recounted.
Eventually Budhan was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. His friends and others who were him at the time of the incident were perplexed as to what caused the incident since they said they had no problem with anyone while at the club. One friend said he later learnt that Budhan may have had an issue with a friend of the man who was seen stabbing him. “It look like he pick up fuh he friend them or something but to tell you the truth me nah really know wha is the problem…” he said.
Budhan’s aunt, Dianne Singh, said they only learnt of the incident later in the morning when her husband went out to the public road and was told by the man who took her nephew to the hospital that he was hospitalized. She said she rushed to the GPH and when she was allowed into the room, she at first thought her nephew was on the bed being treated.
“Dem tell me that the man wah deh on the bed murder and I look but the person had oxygen over he face so me nah see the face properly…I went outside back and me husband went in and is when he come out is then he tell me that Toy dead and the man on the bed is who kill he and I start to cry,” she recounted.
The woman described her nephew as an easygoing young man who worked from “morning till night every day and does hardly go out.” She said his mother had died and he had been living with her for years.
Singh said that Saturday night was one of the rare nights her nephew decided to go out and she last saw him at around 7pm when he left saying he was going to visit his sisters and father.
Police investigations are continuing.
