Two cousins are currently nursing severe chop wounds about their bodies after they were allegedly attacked by a group of men on Thursday night at Goedverwagting, East Coast Demerara.
Injured are Nirpaul Mangal, called ‘Rohan,’ 38, a body work mechanic of Lot 28 Middle Street, Goedverwagting, and Desmond Sharzaman, 41, a construction worker of Lot 19 Goedverwagting.
Both men sustained chop wounds to their heads, hands, back and chest.
They were rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH), where Sharzaman was treated and Mangal was admitted. Mangal’s condition is listed as stable.
The attack occurred around 9.30 pm on Thursday at Middle Street, Goedverwagt-ing, at a work shop operated by Mangal, a short distance away from his house.
Sharzaman told Stabroek News that he and Mangal were having a conversation when a lone male on a motorcycle approached Mangal. The cousins were on opposite sides of the street.
“I was on one side and he (Mangal) was on the other side and me and him gaffing then this white motorbike, a NXR bike pull up to he half and he and this guy had a talking. I don’t know wah really they did talking. I didn’t hear really wah exactly they talking about. He (Mangal) seh ‘I don’t have nothing’ or something like dah. I don’t know if the guy come fah rob he or wah,” Sharzaman said.
He said the rider subsequently left and returned with an accomplice. “So he (Mangal) was still on the opposite…we still gaffing because we ain’t really pay attention to he (rider). We didn’t know he woulda come back. Then the guy come back. When he come back, the other one jump off the bike and start pelting chops. So I tell he (Mangal) ‘run!’” Sharzaman recounted.
He said he also ran in a bid to escape the men but after he noticed Mangal was not following, he was forced to turn back.
In doing so, Sharzaman and one of the men ended up in a scuffle. “…I turn back and me and he (one of the attackers) scramble and we end up and fall inside a drain. And when I fall in a drain, me try fah get the cutlass away from them because the other one and meh cousin (Mangal), them two scuffling tuh and then this one run away and we start fah holler ‘Thief! Thief!’” he further related.
Sharzaman said he ran towards the nearby home of a member of the Guyana Defence Force, but the men still gave chase. “…I run fah rescue at a soldier man right in the area and while I was there, I hearing the noise down at the back at meh cousin (Mangal) residence now. He wife hollering ‘Rohan! Rohan! Rohan!’” Sharzaman said.
He related that the two men left on the motorcycle and returned with about eight others who joined in the attack. “…I don’t know weh this white bike go back and bring back a set ah them and start chopping he (Mangal) more in front by he house deh,” he recounted.
“…And then right by the soldier man place, after I try fah run back fah see wah they doing he (Mangal), one ah the guys chop me again in meh head and meh hand,” Sharzaman added.
He said the police were summoned to the scene, but they rendered no assistance in transporting Mangal to the hospital.
Sharzaman said he had to call home for his son to bring his car to the scene in order to transport them to the hospital.
Robbery or revenge
At the hospital yesterday afternoon, Mangal provided this newspaper with a similar account of what transpired. He said that Sharzaman works with him. Mangal is currently renovating his house.
While the motive for the attack remains unclear, Mangal, who sustained the brunt of the injuries, believes he was the target.
He said the attack was either as a result of a failed robbery attempt or an act of revenge allegedly orchestrated by one of his employees who was fired earlier in the day.
Mangal said he believes that the men’s motive was to rob him. However, at the time of the incident, he said, he had no cash in his possession. “…Because when I did looking fah meh wallet, I ain’t finding meh wallet. But them know pun a Thursday/Friday, I does draw money fah pay meh workers I gah work doing on the building and body work shop. So they know I does got money,” he said.
He also said the incident could be an act of revenge since one of his workers was sent home and the man is friends with the attackers. “Earlier in the day (Thursday), we send home one ah the workers because he like to be smoking in the yard, so we tell he we don’t want dah on the job. Suh when I come back home, I ask meh cousin wah happen to one ah the worker. He seh he send he home. But he come back around 3 o’clock fah he money. But he come with a attitude so I pay he and he keep cursing and riding down the road about he ain’t know why we knock he off and so. …but me cousin tell me he was in the group with these men that beat me up,” Mangal related.
Police were up to yesterday afternoon in the process of obtaining a statement from Mangal.
The injured men said that they knew their attackers since they would roam the area on a regular basis. They said the men posed a threat to society and called on the authorities to step in and investigate so that the perpetrators can be captured.
Sharzaman said a while ago, one of the men who attacked him, allegedly robbed a school boy of his cellular phone. “He robbed a school boy of he phone from Pradoville and run through hay (Goedverwagting) and public servants been start running behind he and all ah we been start running behind he…and after he run deh, me go to he and seh to he ‘give me the bai phone,’” he said.
He noted that during this incident, the attacker attempted to stab him after he intervened. “He did pelt a juk to me…so when he see me (Thursday night), he seh ‘oh this one hay’ and then they was like chopping we fah kill we,” Sharzaman said.
“They attack people often, running through bridges and then into Plaisance,” he added.
A police source yesterday confirmed that an investigation has since been launched into the incident. Up to last evening, the source said, the police were on the hunt for an individual who is known to the police and is currently wanted for larceny of a motorcycle.
