A Wales Estate labourer is now dead after being stabbed on Phagwah night and two people, including his common-law wife, have been held by police in connection with the crime.
Dead is Dellon Bradford, also known as ‘Chicken,’ 25, of Lot 417 Skull City, Patentia, on the West Bank Demerara.
Police, in a statement, said the man had been found on the roadway at Patentia with suspected stab wounds to his body on Thursday evening. He was admitted to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where he succumbed while receiving treatment.
Commander of ‘D’ Division Steven Mansell yesterday said that the police have two persons in custody as investigations into Bradford’s death are ongoing.
According to Mishka Bradford, the dead man’s sister, her brother’s death came at the hands of a resident called “Scrawly,” who is related to his common-law wife, identified only as ‘Anita.’ They were both taken into custody.
Mishka said her brother’s friends alerted to her to his stabbing around 6.30pm.
She said they went to her residence, where they told her, “Come quick” Dellon get juk up!”
She said that when she and other relatives went out to go see what had happened, she saw her bloodied brother lying in the corner of the road.
She noted that her brother’s friends and other witnesses told her that “Scrawly” and some other men were drinking at a shop when Bradford approach them to speak to speak to Anita, who was there at the time. An argument ensued between Bradford and Anita over their children and her drinking and somehow the group who was there joined the argument and tried to defend the woman.
She said she was told that while her brother was turning to leave the group, the men allegedly pounced on him and started to attack him. She said persons told her that “Scrawly” and another male, who were armed with knives, stabbed her brother and beat him badly. “The people say my brother did not retaliate. He was unarmed and he was trying to escape from those who were attacking him,” Mishka said.
She noted that her brother was stabbed about six times to his body. She said she saw wounds to his stomach, side and back. “My brother was running away from them. He get stab to his back!” she cried out.
Mishka said that after the stabbing, her brother was rushed by his friends to the West Demerara Regional Hospital and then he was transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where he later succumbed to his injuries. She said the family members of her brother’s killers even showed up to the hospital to see if he was dead or alive.
Conflicting reports
Neighbours in the village, however, had been told that Bradford allegedly robbed the shop of $200,000 and was trying to escape when he was caught by the men.
According to Mishka, her brother was never a person to steal anything. She said that the false report was made up by those held for the murder of her brother. “If you look at that shop and the house they said he robbed, you see anything worth $200,000? And furthermore, where the money deh? They ain’t find nothing on that boy,” another relative added. “Even so, if he robbed them, they ain’t supposed to take the law into their hands and kill no body, they should have called the police,” the relative said.
The relatives of Bradford are demanding justice from the police for his death. They fear that the police will make it seem as though he was the wrongdoer and those who stabbed him are the victims.
Mishka Bradford also said that the reports that her brother is known and wanted by the police were not true. “Bradford spent nine months in jail for not showing up in court when he was asked to do so, he forget the date. If police had wanted my brother they could have come and pick him up any time. The police know he was in the area, he was never a criminal. A misunderstanding with a phone landed him in prison,” the sister told Stabroek news.
According to her, it is unfortunate that her brother is being portrayed as the one who is a criminal although the person who allegedly stabbed him had been involved in a previous stabbing and chopping and had been in hiding from the police.
Dellon Bradford is survived by his three children, who are ages 1, 2 and 7.
