Worker takes over driver’s seat of vehicle to save boss from violent protesters

Sep 10, 2020 News

In what is being called a heroic act, a worker on Monday last took over the driver’s seat of a Toyota pick-up in his quest to save his rice farmer boss from scores of violent protesters at Number Four Village, West Coast Berbice (WCB).The protesters had blocked roads and resorted to violence as a way of demanding justice for two teenage boys, Isaiah and Joel Henry, whose butchered bodies were found dumped in clumps of bushes near a coconut estate at Cotton Tree Backdam.
The rice farmer, who hails from Friendship, East-Berbice Corentyne, almost fell prey to violent attacks which have so far left two dead and many others injured.
The rice farmer, who requested anonymity, told Kaieteur News that he, in the company of workers, had left his home around 05:00hrs on Monday in his pick-up, in search of a combine machine at Bath Settlement.
The man said that around 07:00hrs they arrived at the first road block set up by the protesters. He claimed that the first crowd was not that large and police were able to assist them in passing through. Nevertheless, they ended up being stranded for hours as tensions started to escalate.
At around 16:30hrs, the rice farmer said he made a decision to turn around his pick-up and head back home.
However, at Number Four Village, he said, his vehicle came under attack.
The rice farmer said that at least 60 protesters circled his pick-up and started to utter racial remarks. The protesters, he said, then turned their attention to one of his employees of Afro-descent who was sitting next to him in the front passenger seat.
The man told this newspaper that the protesters started to accuse his employee of being used by him to pass the road block. They reportedly began cursing the worker and told him that he is allowing himself to be bossed around by his employer as a slave. The man revealed too that the angry mob tried to convince his employee to hand him over to them.
“The people tell he you should have been his boss not him bossing you, come out de vehicle leh we deal with he; leh we teach he a lesson,” said the rice farmer.
The man claimed that he was in a state of shock and disbelief and became so nervous that he could not move a muscle or do anything.
The protesters, he said, began pelting rock and other objects at the vehicle and tried to haul the employee out of his vehicle.
Instead of allowing him to be pulled out, the rice farmer said that the worker freed himself from their grips. Instead, the employee reportedly pulled his boss out of the driver’s seat and took control of the vehicle which he drove through the crowd thus saving his boss and co-workers from what could have been a brutal attack from the violent protesters.
The rice farmer said that he is counting his lucky stars and will forever be indebted to his employee for taking such a bold step to protect him from danger.

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