DOCTORS at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation are battling to save the sight of a 30-year-old gold miner who was wounded in the left eye, apparently during a robbery attempt at a gold mining camp at Ekereku, Region Nine, around 03:00 hours on Friday.
The victim, Philbert Clements of Waramadong, was employed as an equipment operator, working at the gold mines at Ekereku where the incident happened.

Clements recalled that on Thursday night some of the men in the mining camp were imbibing alcohol and went to bed after midnight. He said that around 3:00 hours on Friday morning, he awoke and observed that a fellow miner was prowling in the camp and was about to run through his bag. He said after the man realized that he was awake, the man dealt him a severe blow to the face with a piece of wood.

As a result, Clements suffered injury to his left eye, left jaw and forehead. Meanwhile, it was only when he attempted to eat lunch on Saturday that he realized and tearfully indicated that he could not chew.

Clements, the fourth of seven siblings, went to school in Waramadong but never managed to get a job before. He said he had long looked forward to gaining employment so as to be able to earn a steady income and help his parents and younger siblings.

Three months ago he left to work as an equipment operator with the mining camp. But nothing could have prepared him for the encounter he had three days ago.

Weeping, the young man said he felt betrayed. He never expected that from the miner who wounded him, since according to him (Clements) “He was an Amerindian like me and I thought he would look out for me. Now I could lose my sight. I never expected it; I never expected it.” The suspect has since gone into hiding.