Three members of a family were admitted to the New
Amsterdam Hospital after being attacked on the night of
Mother's Day at their Betsy Ground home by a cutlass-wielding
man believed to be insane.
Still hospitalised after the attack last Sunday night are Rakesh
Balgit, his
wife Latchmi and her sister Sursatie.
They were all rushed to the hospital after a man carrying a
cutlass walked into their yard and started firing chops,
claiming that he was paid by someone to attack them.
Latchmi's sister-in-law Shoba was also attacked by the man
with the cutlass and was treated at the hospital and sent
away. Shoba said she had gone to her sister-in-law's residence
to make a phone call around 7:55 pm on Sunday night. She said
further that she was sitting in a hammock under the house with
Latchmi when a man wearing long pants and carrying a haversack
on his shirtless back marched into the yard with a cutlass.
She stated that the man came up to her and raised his cutlass
in a threatening manner and fearful for her life she begged
him: "Ow uncle, wha you come chop awe fuh, wha awe do yuh."
She then attempted to get out of the hammock but the man
lashed her with the broad side of his cutlass
and she ran screaming
behind some flower plants in the yard.
Example, broad side of his cutlass
Deoraj
Jagdeo
Cutlass
Shoba also said that from behind the flower plants she saw
Latchmi struggling with the cutlass-wielding man who struck
her about her back and body and also dealt her two chops to
her left hand.
When Latchmi asked him why he was attacking her he said a
resident from the area had paid him to chop her. He also said
he was from Sandvoort.
Shoba stated that Latchmi's younger sister Sursatie, who
was sitting on the steps at the time and saw what had taken
place, started to scream and ran up the stairs. The man went
after her and dealt her chops to her hand and at one point the
cutlass was stuck in her hand.
Sursatie's fiancé who had just entered the yard ran to
call for help. Rakesh, who had opened the door upstairs after
hearing Sursatie's screams was also chopped by the man who
forced his way into the house.
Latchmi, after being chopped went up an interior staircase
to her second floor and again met up with the cutlass-wielding
man as he was struggling with her husband.
The man then calmly walked down the stairs and onto the
street where he headed to a creek in the backdam. The three
wounded family members then made their way to the side of
their yard where a neighbour pulled them over the fence. They
were then rushed to the hospital.
Shoba explained that the Friday before the incident someone
had broken into her sister-in-law's home and had stolen a
number of items.
The neighbour who pulled them to safety, Sainpattie
Hukumchand told this newspaper that her family called the
police after she heard shouting from next door. At first, she
thought that the family next door was being robbed because she
knew of the robbery that had taken place the previous Friday
but when she came out, she saw them all covered in blood.
According to Hukum-chand, as the man was passing on the
road he saw three bicycles and chopped at them causing the
tyres to burst. He then walked away as if nothing had taken
place.
According to Shoba the man is still at large.
