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Man’s sight continues to deteriorate after beating by army officer
“It’s been four months since I was assaulted by a member of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) and up to now I can’t get justice. This man slammed my head into the wall several times before I pass out and I am at the point where I can barely see.”
The injured Linden Hastings at the hospital.
Linden Hastings, 57, of Lot 374 Crane Housing Scheme, West Coast Demerara, suffered a fractured skull at the hands of a soldier on June 7, last, and since the incident he has been unable to see clearly.
“Every day my eyes are getting worse and worse. Is from one problem to another problem. Sometimes I wake up with headache and go back to sleep with headache. This is overbearing; I am using medication but sometimes I feel as though it’s not working. My sight is so bad that I can’t even read the papers.”
Commander of Police D’ Division, Leslie James, said that a file on the matter has been sent to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) for advice.
Hastings in an interview with this publication said that after the first article was published about the incident a few police officers went to his home and took another statement from him regarding the altercation.
Hastings said that the following day after giving the police a statement he received a phone call and was instructed to go to the station where he met and had a confrontation with the soldier.
He said that he was told by a police officer to relate his side of what transpired when he went to the Mosque to pray.
The man said that after he left the station he went to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) where he was informed that the file was sent for them to recommend charges against the soldier who assaulted him.
He noted that the soldier was arrested but has been released on station bail.
The man said that for now he is just relaxing at home waiting for the court date since he cannot work as a result of his injuries. “Right now I’m just at home because I’m still feeling a lot of pain and still using a lot of medication.”
Hastings received his injuries while he was attending service at the Masjid; he told the soldier that the young woman he had invited to sit in the male section of the Mosque was not acceptable because she was not a Muslim.
He said that after the soldier and the woman left the Masjid, he too left. He said that he went outside to perform ‘wudu’ which is a ritual washing performed in preparation for prayers.
It was while he was outside that the soldier confronted him and began verbally abusing him before punching him in the face and hitting his head to the wall several times until he passed out.
His wife who was at the upper floor of the Masjid had to render assistance to him after she saw him lying motionless on the ground.
With the assistance of a taxi driver they rushed him to the West Demerara Regional Hospital.
He was then transferred to the GPHC where he was admitted and underwent several tests, one being a CT scan which showed that he sustained a fractured skull.
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