A man was yesterday beaten to death in Bath Settlement, West Coast Berbice after he opened fired on a group of pro-testers, the police say.
Dead is Prettipaul Hargobin, 34, of Waterloo, Bath, West Coast Berbice.
The Guyana Police Force in a statement yesterday said that “Inquiries disclosed that the victim was in his motor vehicle on the Public Road at Bath Settlement when it was observed that he exited the vehicle with a shotgun and discharged one round into the air before discharging three rounds towards a crowd of protestors who were about 60 meters away”.
The statement continu-ed, that “As a result of his actions, he was attacked by the crowd and beaten. The police who (were) some distance away having observed the com-motion rushed to the scene where they discovered the victim lying on the ground with several injuries about his body”.
Hargobin was rushed to the Fort Wellington Public Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival just around 4 pm.
His sister, Ronita Hargobin, 30, explained, that her brother in anger drove to the protest in Bath Settlement after he claimed that someone on a blue motorcycle did something to him, “but he didn’t say, so I jump in the vehicle with him and I keep asking and he was driving to go look for the guy and somebody tell he the guy went to Georgetown side”.
She said she tried calming him down and kept asking what did the person do to him exactly but he refused to say. “I ask him to tell me what’s wrong, he was crying and so and he went to the protesters and come out ask if anybody pass with a motorcycle”.
However, she said it was at that point that a group of persons began hitting their vehicle. The woman, who said she sustained a lash to her head said she rushed out of the vehicle and held on to her brother in an effort to stop him from getting into a fight with the persons gathered since he quickly got out of the vehicle.
“He jump in the vehicle and say he going home and I left in the crowd, so I was getting another guy to drop me with a bicycle but he turn around the vehicle and go back there”, she said.
The sister said she was already in the street when she saw her brother turning around so she began running back to the scene, “and I heard shots and a whole set of people run into him and beat him and then light the vehicle on fire”.
She said, “I begged them not to hurt my brother and they all went away and left him on the ground”.
Singh then rushed home to collect her car to take her brother to the hospital but before she returned the police had already arrived on the scene and were getting ready to rush Hargobin to the Fort Wellington Hospital.
According to the sister, the father of two was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.
The sister, who broke into tears multiple times while speaking to Stabroek News, said she was unsure of what injuries her brother sustained and whether he was a licensed firearm holder.
Meanwhile, when asked about the allegation that her brother opened fire on the persons gathered, Hargobin said she was unsure as she did not see the shots being fired but only heard them.
The sister said that her brother was extremely caring and loving, “He was always supportive, he was my strength but I want to say this to you I have lost hope and faith in our government”, the emo-tional woman said.
