There were two recent occurrences, both reported in the media, that sit firmly on the incredulity scale. The fact that they did happen makes them unacceptable and the respective parties concerned should be totally ashamed, though this does not appear to be the case.
In the first instance, it was reported last week that the charge against an Albouystown man for the murder of his stepson had been withdrawn by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) because the teenager died in the COVID-19 Infectious Diseases Hospital. The accused, 27-year-old Shawn Bobb, had allegedly attacked 19-year-old Isaiah Edwards with a knife during an altercation on January 26. Mr Edwards was reportedly standing up for his mother in the face of abuse meted out by Mr Bobb. Both Mr Edwards and his mother were injured in the fracas and taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) for treatment where during routine screening Mr Edwards tested positive for COVID-19 and was thus transferred to the Infectious Diseases Hospital at Liliendaal. He succumbed the next day, January 27.
Somehow at this point, things went awry. It appears that the police said they were not sure whether Mr Edwards’s death was as a result of the stab wound or COVID-19. Mind boggling. How then did the DPP bring a charge of murder against Mr Bobb in the first place? Did the police merely assume that Mr Edwards had died from the knife wounds he sustained? What was listed as the cause of death on the victim’s death certificate? Was a post-mortem examination done? And if not, why not when it was known that the victim also had COVID-19? Surely in order to establish that he had been murdered this had to be ruled out?
This was not a case where the suspect surrendered to the police following the crime. Mr Bobb had fled the scene and had been on the lam for three days before he was apprehended by the police at Mahaica, while disguised as a woman. The police therefore had ample time to get all their ducks in a row as they continued to seek the suspect.
There are two possibilities here. One, this is an instance of humiliatingly poor police work where the conclusion that Mr Edwards died of his stab wounds was made on an assumption rather than the solid evidence of a post-mortem examination. Two, there was some murky deal that allowed Mr Bobb the relief of not facing a murder trial. Either way, this raises serious questions about the quality of police investigations, the operations of the DPP’s office and its interaction with the police.
There are other pertinent issues that need serious consideration. It appears Mr Edwards was unaware that he had COVID-19. Certainly, he was well enough to challenge his stepfather’s abuse of his mother. Therefore, it seems unlikely that he would have been admitted to the Infectious Diseases Hospital if he had not been stabbed and taken to the GPH in the first place. Did the authorities list his death as having occurred as a result of COVID-19? If so, how are they sure that it was not from the knife wounds? Incidents like this can skew statistics and therefore public health professionals have to make every effort to ensure that what they are recording is 100% factual. Mr Edwards’s death presents a grey area and it should be further examined.
The second occurrence involves reports from the Oscar Joseph Hospital at Charity, in Region Two, where patients were attacked on two separate occasions by people who meant them harm, or intended to kill them.
In the first case, a man had taken his injured girlfriend to the hospital for treatment and while she was being attended to, he reportedly grabbed a blade from a medical tray, wounded her and ran away. The attending medical staff claimed that both the man and his girlfriend were intoxicated. One is unsure what exact bearing that had on his behaviour. However, the implications are obvious. If he was able to swipe a medical instrument from a tray and slash his girlfriend, who survived, then he could just as easily have harmed a doctor, nurse or innocent bystander awaiting treatment. It would appear that the hospital either lacked or was lax on the protocols that prevent non-staffers being present while emergency treatment is being carried out.
In the other incident, a gang infiltrated the hospital and stabbed a young man who was an inpatient there. The gang members were reportedly roaming the wards seeking their victim and were able to do so as calls to security guards and the police produced no results. The victim survived the attack, but here again, the violence could just as easily have been meted out to hospital staff or anyone else with dire consequences.
It has been reported that an investigation has been launched, but one hopes that the security guards on duty that day are held accountable immediately. Or, in the event they were ill-equipped to handle a group of armed youths, the firm to which they are attached faces the music.
If events like these are not nipped in the bud, they ultimately lead to utter lawlessness. The country’s security and healthcare systems are already under threat, such failures will further tip the scales against them.
