A TEENAGER of Westbury Village on the Essequibo Coast is thanking God for his life after he narrowly escaped being bitten by an overgrown labaria at Cozier.According to reports, the teenager Romel Benn was asked by his father to go to Cozier and feed some pigs that the family is rearing on the farm.Reports said he was also given instructions by his father Brother Benn to retrieve a cutlass that was hidden in a clump of grass near the pig pen.

Romel, who always accompanies his father to the farm and helps to feed the pigs was happy to go and do it alone. The teenager said on reaching the farm the first thing he did was to search for the cutlass that his father had hidden. According to Romel, he took a shovel and started to part the long grasses to search for the cutlass. He said he became afraid when he discovered a large snake coiled up in the grass and tried to strike him when he parted the grass. Romel said he ran to the dam and waited for someone to help him.
He said he saw a farmer, Brother Carl, coming along the dam and he told him about the large snake in the grass. Brother Carl who attends the Voice of Faith Miracle Ministries church along with Romel’s father, Brother Benn, said he took the shovel and went to see what type of snake it was.According to Carl, the snake was a dangerous, overgrown labaria and it was coiled up and ready to strike.He said the huge snake was on top the cutlass and was just waiting for someone to put his hand there.According to Carl, had the snake bit the teenager, he would have died within minutes.
Carl said he took the shovel and plunged it through the reptile . He said it was frightening to see the passion the snake displayed as it tried several strikes while in immense pain.It died shortly after.
Carl, who is a cash crop farmer, said he thanked God that Romel did not put his hands in the grass to search for the cutlass. He said it was God who guided him to use the shovel to part the long grass. Romel’s father, Brother Benn, said normally he would rush down to the farm very early to feed his pigs and look after his plants, but that morning a voice spoke to him not to go and he obeyed and sent his son.He said it was the voice of God.Brother Benn said he knew where he had hid the cutlass and he would have pushed his hand in the grass to get it and the snake would have bit him. Brother Benn said God had protected him and his son and he is so thankful to the Lord Jesus.He said the Lord is great, mighty and powerful. (Rajendra Prabhulall in Essequibo)