A Timehri logger succumbed to burns on Saturday afternoon, days after the camp he and others were staying at in Mabura was allegedly set alight by his employer.
David Campbell 49, of 180 Hyde Park, Timehri was a patient in the Burn Care Unit of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) at the time of his death.
According to the man’s nephew, Jason Persaud, he along with Campbell and two other individuals, Etwaroo Karan and Tyrone Campbell, were in the camp when his employer who was drinking, asked them to push a tractor.
“De man had alcohol in his head and come ask we to push start the tractor. Wha we go push? It was late at night remember is bush we deh,” Persaud recounted.
After the men refused, the employer said to them that if they would not help him, he was going to help himself.
“De man get vex and tell we that if we can’t help he, how he gun help heself and we went and sleep. Next thing you know, camp deh on fire,” Persaud recalled.
He also stated that after the camp began to burn, three of them managed to escape, leaving David Campbell behind. He was then seen dragging his body out of the burning camp. He was taken to the Mackenzie Hospital, from where he was transferred to the GPHC.
Their employer, meanwhile, fled the scene.
Campbell’s niece, Jennifer Persaud, told Stabroek News yesterday that she heard that there was an arrest made in Linden.
Efforts to contact the ‘E’ Division Commander to confirm this were futile. However, Deputy Commander Michael Sutton said that the police are out doing their investigations and he could not confirm if any arrests were made as yet.
Jennifer Persaud described her uncle as a jovial person, who always had a smile on his face. He was well known and well respected by everyone, she added. Campbell is survived by his daughter, Sherry Jaigobin and his three grandchildren. He will be laid to rest on Friday.
