FORTY-FIVE-YEAR-OLD Jeewan Lall, a minibus conductor stabbed in the abdomen by a tout at the Kitty/Campbellville bus park in downtown Georgetown, yesterday remained in  critical condition at the male surgical ward of the Georgetown Public Hospital. Lall, even though fully conscious and with a clear recollection of the attack at the Route Number 40 Park on Croal Street, was experiencing great pain and said he had difficulty breathing.
Lall, who lives at Craine Old Road, West Coast Demerara, recalled that around 16:00hrs on Thursday, he was working on a bus at the park when a tout whom he recognized saw him with $800 in his hand and demanded that he hand it over to him. Lall said he was surprised, because he owed him no money and he refused to comply.
He said this provoked an angry response from the tout who whisked out a knife and stabbed him in the abdomen.
Lall said he was picked up by two men who put him in a motor vehicle and rushed him to hospital, still with the knife in his abdomen.  He was taken to the theatre for emergency surgery.
Meanwhile, this version of the story differs somewhat from reports earlier received, that Lall had refused to pay over $60 to the tout for securing passengers for his bus, and the conductor used a piece of wood to ward him off.
According to the report, the wood struck the tout who retaliated by stabbing the conductor and beat him with the same piece of wood.
The tout was subsequently arrested by police who are continuing their investigations into the matter.