A Parfaite Harmonie, West Bank Demerara youth, who was stabbed on Thursday night as he rushed to the aid of two neighbours who were being attacked by a bandit, is recovering but remains in the Intensive Care Unit of the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH).
Omesh Lakeram, 18, was making significant progress when they visited him yesterday, according to Sorojinie Sewdial, the mother of the two girls who were attacked. She said that doctors had related to the family that the wound punctured one of Lakeram’s lungs and grazed his heart.
Lakeram was stabbed in the chest when he rushed to the aid of Sewdial’s daughters – ages 17 and 19. They were returning home from work in Georgetown at around 7 pm on Thursday when they were attacked by a lone bicycle bandit in Parfaite Harmonie.
Usually, Lakeram, who is a construction worker, would follow the girls home since he lives next door and given the fact that after disembarking a minibus, they would have to walk some distance along a lonely street to get to their house.
On Thursday, while the trio was walking, Sewdial said, her daughters related that they saw a man riding past them before stopping some distance away. Not thinking that it was anything unusual, they continued walking.
With Lakeram trailing the two girls some distance behind, they eventually reached a secluded spot where the bandit pounced first on the younger sister. He grabbed her bag and tried to pull it away. However, the girl held onto the bag but was unable to keep it after the man ripped it out of her hands.
After relieving the younger sister of her belongings, the bandit then attacked the older sister, Sewdial related. By this time, Lakeram had noticed and ran to the girls’ aid. He tried to fend off the attacker but was stabbed in the chest in the process.
The bandit then escaped and Lakeram collapsed. When the girls checked on him, he said that he was fine. However, after they picked him up, he could not walk more than two steps and started to bleed profusely, Sewdial said.
The girls started screaming for help and luckily, Lakeram’s father was close by. The man rushed his son to the West Demerara Regional Hospital from where he was transferred to the GPH.
Sewdial said that they are disappointed with the police who only came yesterday to investigate the matter. She said that at around 2 am on Friday, the victims visited the police station and made a report but it wasn’t until yesterday that the police contacted them again, visited the crime scene and asked for statements to be provided.
