– West Berbice woman alleges foul play in Boxing Day incident
A West Berbice, Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) woman is seeking the intervention of authorities to probe her uncle’s death on Old Year’s Day.
Junior Forbes Phillips, a 51-year-old man of Rosignol, West Bank Berbice, Region Five passed away at the Georgetown Public Hospital on December 31, 2024, after receiving injuries to his head and leg on December 26.
Deceased, Junior Forbes Phillips
According to his niece, Graceland Phillips, on Boxing Night he was gambling on the streets, playing a trick card game with a man from the village. He won $75,000 that night, and then left on his electric bike for Ithica.
“When he was finished winning the money he counted it and said he was going to the Boxing Night dance at Ithica. Maybe they heard when he said he was going to Ithica and, like, they went by the plantain walk where they get a track to go into Shieldstown; like they waited there…”, she alleged.
Philips said it was shortly after 22:00h that night they received a message indicating that her uncle was hit off of his bike.
She said that a cousin related seeing four persons pulling his uncle, and when he enquired, he was told that the uncle had crashed into a horse on the road.
The nephew took the injured man to the Fort Wellington Hospital, and he was subsequently transferred to the New Amsterdam Hospital and then to the Georgetown Public Hospital for further treatment.
Philips said she visited her uncle the following day in the Georgetown Hospital.
“You could see like they lash his foot and break it, and he had a collar around his neck. All he was doing is pointing to his head… I visited him for three days straight,” the niece recalled.
However, on January 31, the injured man passed away.
The grieving niece said up to then no report was made to the police. However, after his passing the police were informed.
“When we see Junior body, you could see naturally where they lashed him in his head. You can see the dent… The only thing is that you can’t pick up is the mark because he is dark but you can see the impression on his face where they lashed him and dent in his face,” she claimed.
The woman said one of her uncle’s legs appeared to have been broken in two places.
Philips also expressed disbelief at statements that her uncle crashed into a horse since, she noted, the electronic bike her uncle was riding at the time was not damaged.
“The man that Junior was gambling with, as soon as he hear that Junior died, he disappeared. Is not that man alone killed Junior. I am begging that if they can get that man, then they will be able to get the rest of them,” she alleged.
Meanwhile, police say that it is still an active investigation, and they are waiting for relatives of the dead man to provide statements to the police.
A source close to the investigation told this publication that the niece has been asked to provide the police with a statement based on information she has, but she is yet to come forward.
The source said too that the police have only been able to obtain statements from the person who took Phillips to the hospital, and from the relative who witnessed the post mortem.
