By Suraj Narine
A young labourer was electrocuted while he was working on top of a three-storey building in the city on Wednesday afternoon and his family is suspicious that a cover-up is afoot.
Leroy Francis Harris, 25, an employee of Readymix Concrete Limited and who resided at Plaisance Squatting Area, was electrocuted as he was passing down a flex pipe that came into contact with a wire that ran from a utility pole to the building at Evans Street, Charlestown.
This is according to the owner of the building, Orin John, who related that he had informed the contractor that all items and materials should be passed at the side of the building instead of the front, which would obstruct the flow of vehicular traffic.
When asked if the wire being too close to the building should have been reported to the power company, John replied, “It’s only close because the forms (form boards) are on; that’s why it’s close. Soon as the forms comes off, it will be at its proper distance.”
He also told Stabroek News yesterday that Harris had been shocked before on the same day and he had cautioned him.
“He passed a pipe before and he said that he feel something go ‘grittt, grittt,’ and he said that he get shock but he said that the current wasn’t strong” John added.
John said that he left the building sometime around 4pm to pick up his daughter and issued another warning that no one must pass anything from the front. However, upon his return at around 4:30pm he heard that Harris had been electrocuted.
It wasn’t clear whether there were any eyewitnesses as co-workers remain tightlipped.
John also revealed that two persons suffered minor shocks as they used a wet cement covered wood to separate the wire from the pipe Harris was holding.
“Two of them boys get shocked too; they get pitched away with the current, and one of them knock the side of his leg and couldn’t make it to come out today. I am sorry that he lost his life but it was negligence…,” he said.
Already, some of Harris’s relatives aren’t convinced that his negligence was the cause of his demise. They are claiming that there is more to it and they are convinced that someone is trying to do a cover up. They are also inquiring if they will receive any payments since he was electrocuted on the job.
According to Harris’s wife, Tavia Nurse, she had made contact with Harris’s employer, who told her that she must remain quiet and not to share any information with anyone.
When Stabroek News made contact with Readymix Concrete Limited yesterday, a man who identified himself only as “Singh” said that they are talking to Harris’s relatives and wished not to comment any further on the matter.
However, relatives have challenged this claim. The dead man’s mother, Patricia Kirton, told Stabroek News yesterday that she’s been going around trying to find out actually what happened to her son. “I trying to get the truth. Nobody isn’t telling me exactly what happen, how he get electrocuted, nothing. They cooking up something. I ain’t hearing nothing positive.” Kirton said.
Theresa Cox, a relative, said yesterday that “the police gotta come in this. If a wire was exposed, they shoulda fix it. And dem say how he get shock before! So, tell me: Them wait for he to get shock one more time? Plus, he boss say that we mustn’t give nobody information. Something nah sound right.”
‘A’ Division Commander Clifton Hicken informed Stabroek News that an investigation is being undertaken into the man’s death.
In addition to his partner, Harris is survived by his seven-month-old son Simkaiyah and eight siblings.
