Buxton youths beaten, three arrested

Nov 25, 2011 News

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– Police say incident was not racially motivated

A father and son are among three men taken into custody by the police as they continue investigations surrounding the beating and chopping of three youths from Buxton, East Coast Demerara.
The three boys were identified as Mark Lustal, 16; Shaquille Answick, 17; and Lancelot Griffith, 16; all of Company Road Buxton.
A fourth boy, Omar Answick, had managed to escape and immediately informed the parents of the other three boys. The three sustained lacerations to the head, hands and backs.
The incident happened outside of a grocery shop at Non- Pariel, East Coast Demerara.
Police sources yesterday told Kaieteur News that the father and son were the first persons the police arrested.
The two were questioned and with the information the police got, they returned to Non-Pariel and arrested more persons.
The men were all taken back to the station where they were positively identified as the group of men who inflicted the beating on the boys.
This newspaper was reliably informed that the police are currently looking for another man.
According to sources, the man is said to be member of the local policing group in the area. Kaieteur News was told he had an unlicensed gun in his possession threatening to shoot the boys.
According to one report, the young boys had attempted to rob a grocery store in Non-Pariel and were beaten and chopped.
However, police sources yesterday dispelled that theory that the store was ever robbed.
Proprietor of the grocery store, Nazeer Abdul, stated that he was not at home when the incident happened.
Abdul said that his wife had told him that the boys entered the shop and went to a grilled door and demanded that they open it.
He had told Kaieteur News that the young child refused and ran towards his wife. At this point his wife shouted to her neighbours who came out to render assistance.
According to the man, his grocery store has a surveillance camera and the police had reviewed the tapes.
However, Kaieteur News was told that the police never reviewed any tapes since there was a difficulty in securing the footage.
However, several residents in the Enterprise area gave a different version of what happened yesterday.
Meanwhile, the police in a press statement yesterday said that investigations so far have revealed that four youths went into a shop at Kellman Street, Non Pariel.
The police said that the shop is owned by Rebita Abdool, 34 years.  At the time Rebita Abdool and her 13-years-old niece were in the shop.
The police said that it was reported that the four youths, who were unarmed, entered the shop and made some enquiries about bicycle parts to the young child.
The youths then enquired from the child if she could have opened the door apparently for them to have a look at the parts.
It was stated in the release that after the shop owner heard that she panicked and ran to the back believing it to be bandits. According to the police the family was robbed about two months ago.
The woman alerted neighbours who responded and confronted the four youths, during which one of them managed to ride away on a bicycle.
The other three were attacked by the residents who were armed with cutlasses, spades and sticks resulting in them being injured.
The release further stated that the police responded promptly and took the three injured boys to the Buxton Health Centre where they were treated and sent away.
It was noted that the police have been able to establish that the victims are employed with a construction company that is building a number of homes in the area under the Ministry of Housing.
It was further stated that the police are reviewing the tape from a CCTV that is installed on the shop premises.
They said that they were satisfied that this is not a racially motivated incident. The youths were workers in the area and their actions may have created some misunderstanding on the part of the shop-owner who raised the alarm.
The Guyana Police Force called on all communities to continue to exercise good common sense and be more patient and long-suffering.
Vanessa Baker said that she was one of two persons who ran to the young boys’ assistance and prevented them from sustaining further injuries.
Baker told Kaieteur News that she was inside when her neighbour alerted her to what was happening.
The woman said that she observed three men beating two of the boys.
Baker said she began to quarrel with the men and advised them to take the young boys to the station instead of beating them.
Another who just gave his name as “Busey” said that he was at home when his neighbour called out to him telling him that some boys were being beaten by a group of men.
He said that as he looked out he saw the commotion and went out to find out what was happening.
There, he saw one of the men with a gun and another with a knife using “racial slurs” and threatening to kill the men.
An argument ensued which led to a scuffle by which time the police arrived.

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