DHARAMDEO Persaud called ‘Creature’ and ‘Achie Bai’, 52, of Whim Village is among the survivors of the April 27 piracy attack in Surinamese waters, is seeking help to get back to some state of normalcy.

On Wednesday, he reached out to the Office of the Prime Minister in Region Six and the media to share his plight.
Since the incident, Persaud returned to Guyana and has since been living in fear.
He is calling on the Government and any relevant agencies to offer any form of assistance that would help him back on his feet again.

Persaud said when he returned home, he was hospitalised for two weeks at the New Amsterdam Hospital.
Due to his injuries, he cannot do much for himself since one of his hands is still in cast and several fingers on the right hand are paralysed.

“I am not able to do anything for myself. I getting little help from my brother but how much he gon do. I try to see if I can do lil dry fish but the hand ain’t making me do much,” he disclosed.

Persaud said he is yet to be contacted by the police or any other local authority.
The piracy attack has also taken a mental toll on him.
“At nights, I get up screaming and trembling, shouting don’t chop me! Don’t chop me!” he related.

Persaud was on the boat Joshua owned by Rosie Jones when the gruesome attack occurred. Recalling the ordeal, he explained four days into the trip, he and four other crew members, namely Spanish Man, Bora, Bandara and Lukesh were asleep when they were ambushed at around 01:00 hrs.

They were awoken to the sounds of cutlass beating on their boat with men shouting “Wake up!”, “Wake up!”, “We come fuh kill!”, “Everybody gonna die!”
“How we wake up and them tek we out the boat is chop, chop and broadside we with the cutlass,” Persaud related.

He said two of his crew members Bandara and Spanish Man were brutally chopped and died as they collapsed next to him.
Persaud said he took the beating and the chopping and was relieved when one of attackers shouted, “Don’t kill he no muh, all yuh tie the anchor on he and throw he over board leh he punish.”

“Them tie the anchor on me neck and when me about two feet, I loose out the anchor meh hustle and come up back,” the father of four said.
On the surface of the river, Persaud said he swam for at least eight hours before being rescued by another boat. At one point, as the attackers continued their gruesome assault, one of them, he said shouted, “Paddy yuh get five moh coming with yuh.”

Asked what was on his mind as he fought to survive, Persaud said he thought about his two grandchildren.

The attack on the fishermen allegedly stemmed from the murder of Somnauth Manohar called “Paddy”, who was gunned down in front of his home on March 30 in Suriname.
Thus far, the brother of Manohar Nakool Manohar called “Fyah” of Number 43 Village and Premnauth Persaud called “Sanbad” or “Sinbad” have been arraigned for the murder of two of the 15 fishermen killed.