A SEPTUAGENARIAN is on the run following the death of Vishwadat Subramanie, alias ‘Coolie Child’, aged 31 years, who allegedly succumbed to cutlass injuries received following an altercation at ‘Under  the Sycamore Tree’ rum-shop at Strand, New Amsterdam. Subramanie died at the Georgetown Public Hospital last Wednesday.
He once lived in the United States of America, having migrated when he was just nine years old, but deported to his homeland about eight years ago.
His paternal grandmother, Loviena Barmoo of East Canje, Berbice, told this publication that she hardly used to see her grandson, whose father died when he was four months old.
“He bin guh to the States an’ he get sen’ back, and he is usually all around de place in New Amsterdam,” Subramanie’s granny said, adding that his maternal aunt, Monica, will be seeing to his funeral arrangements.
According to Barmoo, she received a telephone call from her daughter, Usha, informing her of the death of her third grandson.
Following the incident, she said, he was taken to the New Amsterdam Hospital before being transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital.
Meanwhile, an eyewitness to the incident has disputed claims that the dispute stemmed from a discussion on politics. The eyewitness claims, instead, that the suspect, who served as a janitor at the premises, was at a table taking a ‘shot’ of alcohol when the victim, who usually lurks around, demanded ‘a shot of rum’ from him.
The witness, who happens to be a former murder accused, said the suspect and Subramanie had an old grievance which stemmed from a battle for ‘territory’ [sleeping space under the Sycamore Tree], which resulted in the elderly man sustaining a fracture to one of his feet.
The eyewitness remembers tempers flaring as both men recalled past incidents that had angered them, and at this juncture, Subramanie was injured.
But Subramanie’s was a death waiting to happen, explained a frequent customer to the liquor shop. Said the informant: “When the man take off his shirt, a lot of scars were visible about his body.”
Investigations are continuing.