WOMEN’S Affairs Bureau Administrator, Ms. Hymawattie Lagan, yesterday said that the Sheema Mangar incident is indeed an unfortunate one and she extended condolences to the family.
She told the media that she hopes the perpetrators will be brought to justice for such a brutal crime in which the life of a young woman was snuffed out so senselessly.
Ms. Lagan also recognised the pain the family must be going through after the incident which claimed the life of Sheema Mangar.
Sheema Mangar, 21, of 675 Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara, succumbed to her injuries on Saturday at the St. Joseph Mercy Hospital.
She was the victim of a robbery on Friday night while she was awaiting transportation to her home at the corner of North Road and Camp Street in the city.
It was reported that a man wearing a red sweater snatched her blackberry cell phone while she was entering a minibus.
The young woman had minutes before left her workplace, Demerara Bank, where she had been employed for the past three years. Reports say that the man who snatched her phone ran into a waiting car and she stood in front of the vehicle to stop the thief from escaping.
She fell beneath the vehicle which dragged her for several feet before speeding away.
Mangar was picked up and conveyed to the Georgetown Public Hospital where she succumbed to her injuries.
Following her death, her parents have been calling out for justice for their loved one, whom they said was killed in such a brutal manner.
Up to press time yesterday the police were awaiting a report on the incident and could not reveal any details, a spokesman said.
Meanwhile, a press release from Demerara Bank yesterday said that Sheema Mangar was employed at Demerara Bank as Cashier in the Treasury Department for the past two years. She went to the best schools in Guyana and was equipped for the work place.
“This is a callous act of brutality one human committed on another human being, and should be condemned by the whole society as it portrays Guyana as a country where human life is as cheap as a cell phone. Life is sacred, which all can take, but none can give. Can these perpetrators of this brutal act return the life of this young girl?” the release asked.
Demerara Bank yesterday extended their deepest condolences to the Mangar family.