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Lethem Police ranks claim no knowledge of investigations into miner’s assault
A 23-year-old miner, Melvin ShewPrasad, formerly a Second Lieutenant in the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), is yet to be contacted by the Lethem police station for a status report on his alleged assault.
The Injured Melvin ShewPrasad
ShewPrasad is alleging that he was badly beaten by ranks stationed at Lethem, including a senior officer, on Sunday last. Kaieteur News understands that the man is currently at his Meten-Meer-Zorg, West Coast Demerara residence, recovering from the assault.
Ranks at the Lethem police station, when contacted on two separate occasions, claimed that they were unaware of the investigations; hence, it is unclear if the alleged assailant was ever apprehended.
The assault against ShewPrasad, which occurred in the wee hours of last Sunday morning, reportedly began at a night spot in Tabatinga.
According to ShewPrasad the assault stemmed from an incident earlier the evening when the senior officer, requested to borrow money. ShewPersad declined to lend.
ShewPrasad said the man became annoyed after he had expressed that “the only time you does call me is when you want money”. The gold miner alleged that at the night spot, he approached the officer in a friendly manner but was greeted with an offensive retort. He said that the man accused him of disrespect, to which he replied “Because I didn’t lend you money I am getting disrespectful?”
The angry officer told ShewPrasad to “move from in front his face.”
ShewPrasad said that he continued to enquire whether not lending the money was the cause of the man’s unfriendly responses.
“Move out from in front my face before I lash you,” the man reportedly shouted, to which ShewPrasad said he enquired, “Seriously”.
It was then that the assault began. ShewPrasad said the officer struck him to the head with a Guinness bottle from which he was consuming, and knocked him to the ground. He said that he momentarily lost consciousness.
Bleeding from the left eye, ShewPrasad said he was rescued by “an Amerindian woman whom I know”.
He said after he regained consciousness, the woman told him that she had called a taxi which took quite some time to arrive. While outside the club, the injured man, who was still on the ground bleeding profusely, was attacked for a second time by the officer.
“I managed to pull out from that.” He said the woman once again rescued him.
On their way to a nearby yard where a taxi driver resides, the man who was being held upright by the woman was stopped by an army vehicle.
ShewPrasad told this publication that a soldier (name given) came out the vehicle and started beating him. “He lashed me against my left shoulder with a metal object. I fell to the ground and started feeling kicks and cuffs about my body causing me to lose consciousness.”
ShewPrasad was subsequently rushed to the Lethem Hospital where he later regained consciousness.”
It was only after he regained awareness that he was told by the woman who repeatedly came to his assistance that the assault ceased when another woman threw herself upon him as a shield.
ShewPrasad claims that the officer visited him at the hospital in an attempt to make peace, but he gave him the cold shoulder.
“He said to me he’s sorry for what he’s done and if I need anything I should call him. I didn’t say anything to him.”
ShewPrasad said that the Police took his statement at the Lethem Hospital, and the following day he went to the Lethem Police Station to make a follow-up statement.
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