TWO men are now dead while three others are currently hospitalised following a brawl at a popular drinking bar at Manchester Village Corentyne on Sunday. Dead are: 28-year-old Mark Simon of Liverpool Village and 23-year-old Kempton Gray of Alness Village. Gary Tyndall 32, of Courtland Village, Samuel Fraser and Byron Robertson suffered

injuries during the fracas are currently hospitalised. According to reports the men were at the bar annual Sunday hang called “Dutty Sunday” imbibing, when a fight ensued over a girl.
The fight started between Simon and Robertson called ‘Bowes’ over a young woman who reportedly shared a relationship with both men. The incident occurred around 22:30hrs. According to one of the injured men Gary Tyndall, he was on the public road next to the bar talking with a friend. He said suddenly it began to rain and he went into his car, while his friend went into the bar for shelter. He said after the rain eased he went out of his car and saw two men in a fight. As they moved closer to his vehicle he asked them not to fight next to him.
“When the rain eased I come out back and my partner come back and then he say them bannas them fighting over some girl and when they come next to me car I say yall rest your self don’t fight next to me and by the time I say that one of them push and slap me and in a blink the man pull the knife on me belly.” Tyndaal stated he tried to ward off his attacker but was also slashed on his thumb.
He said after realising he was injured he ran and jumped over the trench, and told someone who had attacked him. He went on to say that after the crowd moved he went into his car and drove to the Port Mourant Hospital, where he was treated and sent away. However, after experiencing excruciating pain he drove himself to the New Amsterdam Hospital, where he was admitted. He received lacerations to his foot, hand and abdomen.
Meanwhile, according to Kempton Gray’s father, Garfield Gray his son had left to part the fight involving his friend Simon and his cousin Samuel Fraser. He said after taking them to the hospital he left after being pointed out as one of the persons involved in the brawl. He said his son said “he didn’t want any police story,” so he left the hospital and walked towards Rose Hall Town.
Garfield Gray related that around 02:00h he received a call from his son asking him to pick him up from Port Mourant Market area. Shortly after Garfield Gray said his niece informed him that they were going to collect Kempton but after looking for a while they did not find him there. Several calls to his phone went unanswered. They decided to visit the New Amsterdam Hospital where their worst fears were confirmed when they were told he was dead.
Garfield Gray said he is baffled as how his son met his demise, but was later told that a group of men in a car pulled up where he was and dealt him several lashes across his body and chopped him to his foot and across his back. Gray went on to say, that his son was rushed to the hospital by an ambulance. Meanwhile at the home of Mark Simon, relatives gathered but were reluctant to speak since they stated they were not at the scene and cannot relate what transpired. The dead man’s mother Alice Simon said she was at a church service when she got the news of her son’s death. She said when she arrived at the hospital he was already in the mortuary. A few months ago, Simon was shot to his back and right foot and also received chop wounds to his body after he was involved in a row over the theft of cattle. Police in a statement confirmed that the men were imbibing at a bar at Manchester, Corentyne, when an argument arose, which turned into a disorderly brawl involving the use of cutlasses and knives.

By Nafeeza Yahya