–schoolboy injured near Parliament Building returns to school
ALTHOUGH not fully recovered from injuries he sustained in an unprovoked attack by an insane junkie outside Parliament Buildings at approximately 08:00 hrs last Wednesday,15-year-old Brickdam Secondary School student Kenneth David returned to school yesterday for the first time since that incident.

Violently struck twice on the head and on the right arm by a man of unsound mind walking around menacingly with a weighty length of wood looking like a club, the Stanleytown, West Bank Demerara lad had sustained two frightening cuts. One that extended from the crown of his head down to his forehead carried 16 stitches, and the other that was to the left side of his crown also carried several stitches.
He was also dealt a violent blow on the right arm, in the vicinity of his elbow; and even though the arm did not appear to be fractured, the resulting injury was severe enough to prevent David, now preparing for end-of-term tests, from using the arm to write.
David said he was attacked just after he and another brother had been ‘dropped off’ in the vicinity of Parliament Buildings by an elder brother who would normally transport them to the city.
During the attack, the teen fell to the ground and began bleeding profusely.  But even as some persons hurried with David to the hospital, others, incensed at what the ‘junkie’ had done, went after the virtually naked vagrant and gave him such  a sound thrashing that he also had to be taken for emergency medical attention.  Badly brutalized, he was transported to the GPHC by a police patrol vehicle.
At the GPHC, David’s head wounds were sutured at the Accident and Emergency Unit, and he was given medication and sent home.  However, he was neither X-rayed nor had his head scanned.
From an abundance of concern, especially for his head injuries, David’s mother – Mrs Abigail Edwards, Deputy Headmistress of the Brickdam Secondary — advised him against engaging in intense studies, as he had been inclined to do over the last few days.
Ms. Edwards recalled that on Sunday night she had to caution David to ease up on his studies, since the extent of the injuries he had sustained to his head is still undetermined.
His mother said his continued complaining of pains in the head forced her to take him back to the hospital the following day (Thursday). And up till yesterday, his head would pain when touched, and his forehead felt “soft” and still carried stitches.

HOPING FOR THE BEST
Mrs Edwards and her son were advised that head scans were not initially done because the radiation would have been too high for the freshly sustained wounds. They are now hoping for the best.
The concerned mother expressed hope that the unfortunate incident would cause the police to take swift action to rid the streets of persons of unsound mind. As for the injured Kenneth David, he said he has forgiven the man who attacked him, but the memory of the assault would live with him. As a result, he plans using another route to get to school in the future.

IS THIS THE END?
But does this mean that the young Edwards can be assured of not encountering another demented junkie anywhere in the city, especially in downtown Georgetown?
Dubious characters in every sense of the word are known to roam the streets of Georgetown unrestrained, carrying dangerous weapons such as cutlasses, sticks, and broken bottles.
Approximately two weeks ago, a junkie was seen brandishing a cutlass at a man at the Plaisance car park.  And several years ago, another pelted a citizen with a coconut, hitting the man in the head and causing him to drop dead.
Last Phagwah Day, another junkie stabbed dead a construction worker at a site near the Scotia Bank on Carmichael Street, Georgetown, in plain view of persons playing Phagwah in the area.

DOWN THE DRAIN
Unfortunately, all such injuries and deaths tend to go down in vain, since persons of unsound mind are not placed before the courts.