–alleged assailant reportedly already arraigned in G/town

GOLD MINER Sadeek Muhammed, 27, of Lusignan, East Coast Demerara, who was stabbed in the neck at Bartica, Region 7, two Saturdays ago, has suffered considerable nerve damage, and is unable to move his right leg as he remains stricken in bed in the Male Surgical Ward of the Georgetown Public Hospital, where doctors are working assiduously to repair the damage.Muhammed spent two months working dedicatedly on his first trip to the gold mining interior, but came out to Bartica on Saturday, May 19, only to encounter what almost cost him his life.

He recalled that, while in camp, he came to know a certain man, and they travelled out to Bartica on the same Saturday with the intention of spending two days before returning to camp. They jointly rented a room at a hotel named Cheap Shop, and proceeded to move around.

On Saturday afternoon, this friend allegedly asked Muhammed for a loan of $5,000 to buy a cap and a vest, allegedly offered to leave his cellular phone with Muhammed as security for the loan; and Muhammed allegedly granted this friend the loan and collected his phone, not knowing that the friend had an ulterior motive.

Muhammed alleges that he was out on the road later that evening when he encountered another friend, who lives at Third Avenue, Bartica. He said he was chatting with that friend when the mining camp friend allegedly crept up behind him and stabbed him in the neck before relieving him of the cellphone lodged as security for the $5,000 loan.

That friend was allegedly walking away from the scene of the attack when residents in the neighbourhood who had seen what had transpired demanded that he take the injured Muhammed to hospital.

The residents stopped a passing taxi and saw to it that Muhammed’s assailant accompany the injured Muhammed to the Batica hospital. However, on arrival at the hospital, the assailant reportedly deposited the wounded man at the Accident and Emergency Unit and fled without giving a report about the man’s injuries.

Word quickly circulated in the community, and the police, alerted, managed to apprehend the assailant at the Cool Breeze entertainment spot, from where they took him into custody.

Muhammed says he understands that the matter was transferred to Georgetown, and that the accused was passed through the court last week. He said he has since been trying to make contact with the investigating rank, Matthai, but was told that Matthai has since been transferred from Bartica to Georgetown.

Muhammed would like the police to know that he is warded in the Male Surgical Ward of the GPHC, and would like to give a statement on the matter.

(By Shirley Thomas)