One man is dead and several persons have been left severely injured after a chopping incident which occurred in the wee hours of Sunday.
Dead is Emmanuel Rose, 19, of Port Kaituma, North West District (NWD), Region One (Barima-Waini).
Those injured are Kester Rose, 30, of Lot 122 Block F North Sophia, his girlfriend Tiffany Edwards, 30, Shemar Jordan, 20, of Port Kaituma, NWD, Shyndel Profit (father or the deceased) and Ezekiel Profit (brother of the deceased).
Emmanuel Rose, Kester Rose, and Ezikiel Profit are cousins. The incident took place at Lot 122 Block F North Sophia.
Reports are that on Saturday at about 22:30h, Kester Rose and his girlfriend were in their house when Emanuel Rose arrived and started to argue with Kester Rose. They both end up in a scuffle, and it is alleged that Emanuel Rose destroyed Kester’s bed along with other items in the house and went away.
According to reports, on Sunday at about 01:00h Jordan, along with Emmanuel, went home after attending a bar-b-que in D’Urban Backlands and as they arrived home, they observed their clothing burning in the front yard. Reports are that the men confronted Kester, who was at the time in the company of another male, and asked him why he burnt their clothing.
According to information received, Kester then allegedly went into his house and returned with a long knife and a cutlass and dealt Jordan a lash to his neck. A neighbour told the media that he, along with Emmanuel, ran out of the yard while Kester and his friend reportedly ran behind them.
However, Jordan and Emmanuel managed to evade them, and they went to the Kitty Police station, where they reported the matter, after which they went to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).
According to the neighbour, “it’s a sad thing to witness but I hate to see what happened, whenever people keep fighting each other instead of coming together, this is what happens. I’m not from here but it’s sad to see what happened.”
Kester and the male friend then allegedly dealt Profit several chops about his body with a cutlass. A fight began, and the men began chopping each other, during which they all received injuries to their bodies.
“I just saw people chasing these guys that chopped up a guy that lived here they came back for their clothes and when they came back that was the mistake that they made they threatened people here and that’s when they had to run [If you ask] who and what I really don’t know, it was crazy I had to watch from a distance,” the eye witness recalled.
Moments after the incident Jordan, Ezikiel, and Shyndel left and went to a private city hospital.
However, Emmanuel was pronounced dead at the scene. His body was found lying motionless under a step of the one-story wooden structure facing west with the head to the north and feet to the south.
“When everything had quite down the police was here, I went back and just saw one of the offenders from earlier dead underneath the bottom ground, nothing more I can really say about that, it’s just a sad thing about that,” the neighbour said.
Emmanuel’s body was examined, and multiple injuries were observed to his back, hands, and head. A silver blade knife without a handle with what appeared to be blood stains was found at the back of the yard some 20 feet from the body. The body was escorted to the Memorial Garden funeral home, awaiting a post-mortem examination.
Meanwhile Kester and his girlfriend were then picked up by public-spirited citizens and taken to the GPHC, where they were treated and admitted as patients in the emergency unit.
Kester received multiple chop wounds to his leg, back, head, and hands, while Tiffany received one chop wound to her left hand.
It is alleged that a grandparent of the cousins passed away about a month ago. Kester and his girlfriend lived in one of the two houses situated on the property while Emmanuel lived in Port Kaituma.
Sometime in July, Emmanuel arrived at North Sophia along with his friend (Shemar Jordan), and they began living in the empty house on the land.
Reports are that Jordan claimed that since he and Emmanuel started occupying the house, there have been constant problems between them and Kester.
Police said checks were made for suspects, but they were not located. GCCTV cameras were seen in the area and are currently being viewed by Police as investigations continue.
The investigation is in progress.
