By Rabindra Rooplall

A FATHER of four had an argument with his eldest son, who had restricted him from changing the television channel. He is now dead after reportedly being beaten with a metal object by his son last Thursday, May 19, 2016.That father is 71-year-old contractor Rickford Bourne of Lot 732 Turkeyen, Section ‘D’ Sophia. His son, 36-year-old Kwame Bourne, is in police custody assisting with the investigations.

The senior Bourne succumbed to his injuries on Monday evening at the Georgetown Public Hospital; and distraught wife and mother Cynthis Ferguson said she received on Thursday a text message from her daughter stating that her brother had severely beaten their father with a metal object.

Ms Ferguson said she then advised her daughter to take Mr Bourne to the hospital.

“An ex-police up the road assisted, and he was carried to the station; then the police said carry him to the hospital because they don’t have any medical form,” she said.

Ms Ferguson eventually saw her reputed husband the following day at the hospital. She said: “When I see him I said ‘Oh God! Ow! He couldn’t even move or speak, and he was just there.”

She said that after the hospital visit, she travelled to the Turkeyen Police Station to make a report of the matter. “God said, ‘Honour thy father and thy mother that thy days may be long upon the land’,” the woman said.

Reflecting on the dreadful day the violence occurred, Ms Ferguson said her reputed husband had called her cell phone to complain about their son’s behaviour.

“He said when you gon come and talk to this bai? Yo gon come when he kill meh? He got a iron that hook onto the window…The problem they had was over the TV, because when my husband come home he loves to watch news, and Kwame tell he that he must not change the channel and whatever channel it is on it should be left there.”

The woman said that her husband was out working most of the time, and her son had no right hitting his father, and he had even threatened to kill the senior Bourne on several occasions over various issues.

She said on Monday that when she visited the hospital, her husband was panting for breath while being attached to a life machine. “When me and my daughter go back it was 5:20pm, and when we reach he, all the things connected to him was not attached. When we see he, his eyes was closed and we know he dead.”

Ferguson said she always warned Mr. Bourne to visit the police station and make a report, since the junior Bourne was always misbehaving as if he was on drugs.

The dead man’s daughter, Aisha Bourne, said her father was a very loving person but he could also be very stubborn.