LAST week we witnessed the brutal attack of a minibus conductor on an innocent commuter who subsequently died.

His death came as no surprise, because as someone wrote, it was only time before something of this nature took place on one of these buses. The lawlessness that pervades Guyanese society today is overwhelming and there seems to be no end in sight.
When a passenger could be assaulted then dumped out of a public transport  speaks volumes of my country where law and order is concerned. There is no way that conductor should not be charged and I urge his wife to take it up in court with a lawyer at her side.
You see, many persons in Guyana do not know their rights. Waiting on the police to make a charge which in this case might never happen is an exercise in futility. Because if you follow the logic, their argument is the hapless gentleman died of a heart attack or cardiac arrest as the post- mortem examination revealed. So our bully friend, the conductor, is scot free of all that took place that day.
Well, they are ever so wrong. This is just the beginning of things; the post-mortem simply gave the results of Dr Nehaul’s observations or what could be termed the end result of a process. The doctor can only give what he saw when he conducted the post-mortem. What took place earlier or triggered that cardiac arrest situation will now have to be medically explained in court.  Here are the facts of the case: Mr. Mangra was badly beaten that day when he later complained of feeling unwell and later died. But for the action of the conductor or those chain of events that led to something as morbid as death. There are so many things that can cause someone’s death; in this case, a sound beating by the conductor which triggered off a series of psychological and physical reactions leading to death. He might have had a pre-existing condition, but that was not enough to cause death; the beating set that death scenario in motion. At this stage it is only Mr. Mangra’s doctor who can verify his position from his medical history, not a policeman and that can only be hammered out in court. Whichever way you put it, the conductor is in big trouble.
If Mr. Mangra’s wife so wishes she can also bring him in guilty in a wrongful-death case. We often picture these cases as matters for the developed countries failing to realise that they are here on our law books too. So the most logical thing to do is take a lawyer and go to court and let the conductor give an explanation as to his actions that day when Mr. Mangra died.
In a related matter, I must bring to you the seawall lime. There are many persons who are ill, others studying for exams, still others who are shift workers who just want a good night’s rest. All of these individuals are in the vicinity of this loud, pulsating, deafening and vulgar noise. This kind of situation will put undue stress and strain on these ill people, some of whom are as old as Miss Eileen Cox, a 93-year-old lady who wants to enjoy the rest of her twilight years in peace. This vulgarity knows no bounds and every weekend poses life-threatening consequences to our sick and otherwise elderly folks. She has repeatedly written as well as appealed to law enforcement about the health risk, but to no avail.
Like the “boom boom” death traps and their conductor bullies, we have another disaster on the seawall waiting to happen.