An autopsy yesterday showed that Victor Soomaru, the 40-year-old Kitty resident who succumbed at a city hospital last Thursday, hours after he was allegedly attacked by a fellow inmate at the Lusignan prison died as a result of brain haemorrhage due to multiple fractures.
Director of Prisons (ag) Nicklon Elliott, confirmed the findings of the autopsy which was performed yesterday by Government Pathologist Dr. Nehaul Singh.
In a press release, Elliott had said that the incident occurred around 9.05pm on Thursday.
At the time, Soomaru and three other prisoners, including his assailant, were housed in Unit #1, which is referred to as the quarantine section of the facility since it houses new prisoners.
Soomaru was remanded to prison last Monday after he was charged with allegedly trafficking 1.959 kilogrammes of cannabis.
Elliott explained that officers responded to an alarm that was raised by inmates of Unit #1 and it was reported that Soomaru was struck with a piece of brick wrapped in a towel while he was asleep.
Soomaru was immediately escorted to the prison infirmary, where he was treated and later referred to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH). He succumbed while receiving medical attention around 10.30 am Friday.
A police investigation is said to be ongoing. The suspect, Kareem Stewart, was recently remanded to prison after he was charged with murdering Mark Benjamin, a vagrant, who was bludgeoned to death with a brick while he slept on a pavement at Camp and Robb streets on January 27th, 2020.
Stabroek News was reliably informed that during questioning, the suspect reportedly told the police that the attack stemmed from Soomaru allegedly trying to poison him.
The suspect said that he picked up a brick, wrapped it in a towel and hit Soomaru several times to his head while he was sleeping.
He then attempted to attack the other prisoners but by that time the prison officers were alerted and they managed to disarm him.
Victor’s mother, Rita Soomaru said she will not rest until she is provided with answers as to what led to her son’s death. “I want answers because it don’t look good… I am not taking this easy. It don’t add up — what the prison is saying,” Rita had said.
