A confrontation over the use of land at Cane Grove Backdam, Mahaica, turned deadly yesterday when a father and son were attacked and chopped.
The chopping has resulted in the death of Harrynarine Ramnawaj, 27, a driver and farmer and has left his father Chanderpaul Ramnawaj, 59, both of 25 Estate Road, Cane Grove nursing chop wounds. Police in a statement last evening said that a 43-year-old labourer of Sawah was injured during the confrontation and was treated at the Mahaicony Cottage Hospital. He has since been taken into custody.
Police spokesman Shivpersaud Bacchus said in the statement that the now deceased man and his father were at their farm when they noticed that a few banana plants had been damaged and a wooden structure erected. This prompted an investigation by the father and son and they found the suspect in the wooden structure. As a result, Harrynarine confronted the suspect and an argument ensued during which the suspect dealt the man and his father several chops.
They were both rushed for medical attention and Harrynarine was pronounced dead on arrival at the Woodlands Hospital, a relative Totaram Birbal told Stabroek News. The elder Ramnawaj sustained a severed finger and other injuries.
Birbal explained to this newspaper that at around midday yesterday, he received a telephone call from Harrynarine informing him that they had been attacked and needed to get medical treatment.
“He call me and said come pick we up at the farm that them get chop up and he feel like he gon faint… I went right away… he had a chop to his hand and he was crying out for back pain while we were going to the hospital,”Birbal recounted. Based on his account, Harrynarine succumbed whilst being transported to the hospital but no one knew.
The relative added that at the time of the chopping, the suspect along with a son and the man who they built the wooden structure for were consuming alcohol. He said that after the son was attacked, the suspect launched an attack on the elder Ramnawaj and escaped. However, he was later apprehended.
Birbal explained that the suspect is known to the police as numerous reports were lodged by the elder Ramnawaj against him. He said it is not the first time the suspect and his friends would have interfered with the farm.
Harrynarine, who was the only son for his parents, would often assist in the management of their cash crop farm which has been in operation for over forty years.
He is survived by his three-year-old son, wife, sisters and parents.
