By Rae Wiltshire
The body of a homeless man was fished out of a canal at East La Penitence yesterday morning and police continued to face accusations that they failed to render assistance that could have saved his life.
Toolsidas Mangra, 42, who stayed at the East La Penitence Night Shelter, went missing in the canal on Wednesday evening.
The man’s body was only discovered by a child early yesterday morning and he quickly alerted the adults in the community. The residents then pulled the man out of the canal and noticed he had severe injuries about his body. His eyes were battered and there were multiple lacerations around his neck, abdomen, back and shoulders.
Police yesterday issued a statement disputing the claims of residents that they ignored the requests that they help the drowning man on Wednesday.
According to the police, at about 6:40pm on Wednesday a female resident of the East La Penitence Squatting Area reported to the ranks at the station that the man was in the canal south of the station and shouting for “help.”
“Several police ranks including a Subordinate Officer responded. With the use of flashlights, as it was dark, and assistance from residents of the community who were met at the scene, the police made efforts to locate the man in the canal. However, their efforts were unsuccessful, even though a member of the community also went into the canal and carried out a search,” the statement said.
The Sergeant-in-charge of the Station yesterday maintained that he was unaware of any police refusing to help the man.
But when Stabroek News visited the commu-nity, residents remained adamant that that the police at the station did not respond appropriately.
A pregnant woman said when she told the ranks the man was drowning, a policeman said, “Wha ya want me do about it? I can’t swim and you could go and swim with ya big belly.”
Lennox James, another resident, complained and called the police lacka-daisical because the man had gone down since Wednesday and instead of carrying out a search, they patiently waited for him to surface. He said it was the residents that had tried to save the man’s life but nothing else could be done because the stick they had used for him to latch on to was not long enough to reach him in the middle of the canal.
Nagina Gonsalves said the man had made a report to the police about a vicious attack. However, she said they ignored him because she believed they did not want a dirty vagrant in their police station.
Meanwhile, Nalini Singh, Mangra’s niece, said the last time she saw her uncle was Tuesday night. She was only notified of his death on Thursday morning, when she visited the shelter.
According to Singh, a woman at the shelter told her that Mangra had tried to jump into the trench before but the police put a stop to it and detained the man.
It was suggested that he tried a second time to jump into the trench.
Singh said when her uncle’s body was exhumed, the police were moving at a turtle’s pace and some boys at the site had to take the man out of the canal.
The woman added that Mangra was a drinker and had his bad ways but he was always helpful when he visited them. She said a dirty house was abhorrent for him and he was always cleaning the yard, or wiping walls or washing dishes.
A post-mortem examination of Mangra’s body, scheduled for Monday, is expected to shed some light on whether he was beaten as was reported by the residents.
