THIRTY-five-year-old Davenand Williams, a sawmill labourer who was injured on the job at Parika two years ago, was on Monday taken back to the theatre at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) to have corrective surgery performed on his leg.

Williams, who hails from Moruca in Region One, had worked at a sawmill at Hubu Backdam in Parika, strapping and loosing greenheart piles being offloaded from a pontoon by a skidder. On October 20, 2012 a strap snapped, and one of the piles fell on his left foot, breaking it in two places. So badly was the bone crushed that it had to be removed, and steel was implanted in his foot.

Initially, Williams was stricken on a hospital bed for about two weeks before being discharged. On being discharged from hospital, he was shocked out of his wits to find that not only was he relieved of his job without compensation, but a few days later, he and his family of three were literally ‘kicked out’ of a logie the employer had provided for them when Williams was given the job.

And having no bone to support the steel implanted in his leg, over time, it resulted in swelling of the leg and excruciating pain.

Williams returned to hospital and was operated on yesterday. The steel was removed, Williams said, and was replaced by plastic prosthesis. “I now have to live on crutches, doctor said, but I don’t mind that. I am happy to have my leg, even though I’ll never be able to do any heavy work again,” Williams said gratefully.

At that time, the employer, whose name was given to this newspaper, told the injured man that he and his family would have to vacate the premises to make way for another labourer who would replace Williams.

The prospect of having nowhere to go forced the couple to plead with the employer to allow them to stay until they could find alternative living accommodation, but the heartless employer would not give them more than 72 hours to vacate the premises.

Luckily for them, Williams’s wife Savitri approached the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs early on the following Monday and related their predicament.

Officials of the Amerindian Affairs Ministry telephoned the employer and raised their concerns. This development incurred the wrath of the employer, and, according to the couple, he stormed down to the logie in a fit of temper, kicked open the door, and demanded that they leave immediately.

At the time when the irate employer stormed the logie, the sick Williams was lying behind the door, and with the violent kick he gave the door, it hit Williams with full force, causing him excruciating pain. And to compound that situation, Williams said, the employer used threatening language in an aggressive behaviour to them, ordering the couple and their children out of the house whilst retaining their belongings.

They left empty-handed, and even though they reported the matter at the Parika Police Station, the employer is alleged to have burnt the family’s personal effects left in the building.

Before leaving the Parika Police Station, the couple broke down and wept bitterly. They had nowhere to go, and even begged the police to allow them to sit on a bench, but that was not possible. However, one compassionate police rank gave them some money to help them along the way.

They went over to the Parika Health Centre and begged the security guard to allow them to sleep in the compound until daybreak, but he, too, was not authorised to do that. Still limping with his crutches and writhing in pain, Williams and his family went to the Transport and Harbours’ Department wharf and asked permission to spend the night, but they were again refused.

By then it was well past 20:00hrs, and tired and hungry, with nothing to eat, they rested in a corner on the roadside, where they spent the remainder of the night. All they had was one pillow which Davenand used to keep his injured leg propped up.

At daybreak, they realised they had to leave to allow the roadside vendors to take up their vending spots, so the family boarded a minibus and travelled to Georgetown, where they returned to the hospital to get Davenand Williams’s plaster-of-paris cast removed, and his leg X-rayed once more.

On arriving in Georgetown, they returned to the Amerindian Hostel, where officials listened to their complaints, placed the sick and tired man in a bed, and began putting systems in place to address their woes.

After much running around, the beleaguered family managed to find temporary accommodation at a relative at Parika, but Williams has since been without a job, because he is unable to use his badly disfigured leg.

Even though the matter was reported to the police and statements had been given, to date it has not been called up in court. Reports had also been made to the Ministry of Labour, Williams said, but that entity has also done nothing to address Williams’s plight. Williams is now asking himself, “Just what has become of the justice system?”

Given the many unfortunate experiences suffered by Amerindians who come to the coastland to work, Williams is calling on the Chief Labour Officer and the Commissioner of Police to cause action to be taken in this matter, so that justice can be served.

(By Shirley Thomas)