~as surviving teen’s parent hold out on foul play allegations

WEEKS after a West Coast Berbice Seafield man was released on bail of $575,000, having been accused of causing the death of 16-year-old Sheldon Major and injuring his 14-year-old friend in an alleged hit-and-run, the father of the surviving teen, Tracey Browne, is alleging foul play following a private investigation.
Browne who spoke to the Guyana Chronicle during a telephone interview, on Tuesday, revealed that his 14-year-old son was molested and is now in counselling following the incident.

The man related that after the alleged incident which occurred on June, 21, 2020, he visited his son in the hospital and, while he is no doctor, his son’s injuries were not consistent with that of a hit-and-run, hence leading him to believe foul play.

Additionally, the man disclosed that what was even more baffling, when the police responded to the scene Major, the deceased, was found half-naked with no bottom or underwear on, which raised even more suspicions. Browne also revealed that his son’s footwear was found a few feet away from the scene in a muddy ditch, which suggested that the teens were running away from something or someone.

“We questioned why Major (who is now deceased) was found without his clothes on and we asked why the police didn’t check to see if they were molested and so on; the police said that they would have re-examined [him] and then all of a sudden, this guy said that he hit them down and they didn’t bother with it,” Browne told this publication.

After not being satisfied with the probe into the incident, Browne stated that he sought help from a private entity just days after the incident. “We went to somebody to seek help after the police was not really probing this thing. The person took us back to do a medical and the medical showed that [my son] was molested and so at this point here now we are seeking to open up back the whole case.”

Browne added that he had related the said information to the police but has had no word from them. As such, he was advised to hire a lawyer and he will be pursing justice for his son and his deceased friend when the election impasse is over.

“We just waiting for this election thing to blow over and if we have to take lawyers, we will do it because the police they giving we the cold shoulder,” he said.
The man stated that on the night of the incident the teens were sent to his son’s grandmother to pick up some items, when relatives received word of the alleged hit-and-run.

He noted that, when he arrived at the hospital, Major, who is deceased, was already in a body bag while his son was in a semi-conscious state.

“When I got there, he was in a semi-conscious state. He was talking and responding but he was not making sense. His right side face and head were damaged, his face was terribly disfigured and his head had a deep gash to the right side almost to the middle,” Browne explained.

However, the man noted that his son was not physically he same. “He isn’t acting the same way, he’s talking like he’s seven, eight years younger than his actually age right now and he is still holding his right hand funny; he holding it up like his shoulder is not normal.”

Additionally, the man noted that while his son is strong-willed and is typically jovial on most days, he is cognisant of the fact he suffered trauma and he has been seeing a professional to assist with his mental state, following the tragic incident

“The type of person he is, he is very jovial; he is not the type of child that would sulk up and so on but we know things are affecting him so we have him in counselling and so on with a social worker and a child advocate,” Browne said.