A constable attached to the Brickdam Police Station had to undergo emergency surgery to remove bone fragments from both knees and his lower back at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation after surviving a chopping attack by his neighbour yesterday afternoon.
The wife of the 22-year-old policeman, Audwin Amsterdam, recalled that at approximately 3:00 pm yesterday she and her husband were preparing to run errands when a neighbour caught Amsterdam off guard and began chopping him with a cutlass.
Amsterdam’s wife told Stabroek News that she was still inside their home, located at Lot 30 De Kinderen, West Coast Demerara, when “I hear screams, a lot, a lot…when I come out I see my husband on the ground with his two knee chopped.”
She continued that the neighbour attacked Amsterdam as he was placing a shirt in his vehicle. She said that the neighbour first delivered a hard blow to his lower back which stunned her husband.
Amsterdam fell to the ground and as he was crawling and attempting to reorient himself, the neighbour rushed towards him, chopping at both knees.
Amsterdam stated that “we went to two hospitals on the West Coast before we came here… we went to Leonora Cottage Hospital then we went to West Demerara Hospital then we came here…they advised us to come here”. She said that staff at the West Demerara Hospital stated that the injuries sustained needed to be checked at the GPHC.
Amsterdam’s wife stated that the neighbour and her husband have had issues in the past, however the various court cases have since been resolved. She said that they had exchanged words in the past over a fence that was erected by Amsterdam and broken down by the neighbour. She told Stabroek News that recently the neighbour became once again verbally abusive to her husband and her in-laws and that her husband was thinking of making a police report, but had decided against it.
The constable’s wife stated that this was a sudden attack and that there were many witnesses who came to the aid of her husband.
She told Stabroek News that while her husband’s injuries were not life threatening she was scared and worried that he was only taken to the hospital theatre hours after the chopping occurred.
Amsterdam’s mother was in shock that a neighbour would resort to chopping a policeman even though their various disagreements had previously been resolved.
The neighbour is said to be in police custody as of last evening.
