Victim to undergo CT scan, being pressured into settling suit

Region 5 AFC Councillor’s Assault case

…says Seetaram offering $500,000

By Michael Younge

Natram Rabindranauth, 54, has said he now has to undergo a CT Scan on his head after injuries were inflicted on his body allegedly by Alliance For Change Region 5 Councillor Abel Seetaram, who is now reportedly offering him settlement to end the matter and avoid him being convicted.

Speaking with Guyana Times on Friday, Rabindranauth said that while his condition has improved somewhat and he is able to ply his trade, he is still in a lot of pain and discomfort.
The Chip Vendor related that he is still experiencing numbness on one side of his body, and is still passing clots of blood in his stool whenever he strains himself or utilizes his medication.
“I have to try. I have to provide for my family, and even though I have gone back to work, it’s not like before”, he remarked.
He said he is concerned about his condition because, only recently, he visited his doctor and was advised that he may have to undergo a CT Scan to determine the extent to which he has sustained head injuries and the correlation to the continued internal bleeding and discomfort.
“The Doctor said that I got to go back to him next week. I understand that I may now need $100,000 to do the scan, and that’s what I am focused on right now”, Rabindranauth explained.

He did explain that, following the incident, he has expended most of his financial resources on medical supplies and tablets.
“Every week I have to find $25,000 dollars to get medication, because some of the things I need are not available at (the) public (hospital)”, he detailed, as he explained that it is very hard for him.
Only last week, he turned up at Court for his matter to be called up, and when it finally was, it was postponed until February 28, when reports would be handed in.
Asked whether he was pleased with the quality of investigation being done by the Police or the justice process, the 64 A Woodley Park, West Coast Berbice resident responded in the negative, as he recalled a Policeman informing him that he also may be charged for “some scuffle”.
He wants justice to be swift and impartial in the matter, because his cousin appears to have “links,” and continues to boast about being above the law.
Rabindranauth also informed this newspaper that the AFC Councillor had first offered him a meagre $150,000 to settle the matter, and he had rejected the offer. He said his assailant continued to offer different sums to escape a possible conviction, until the last offer made was somewhere in the vicinity of $500,000.
“Everybody saying that I should not settle, but my family them a constantly ask me to drop the story because we are family. I don’t know yet, and I have not made any decision. I am in a lose- lose situation if I do so”, he related.
Rabindranauth was hospitalised at the New Amsterdam Public Hospital with a broken jaw, fractured nose and internal bleeding. He was plying his daily trade along the No. 11 Public Road when he saw his son involved in a scuffle with Seetaram’s son.
Rabindranauth had stated that he stopped and attempted to intervene, when Seetaram came out. “I was passing same time and meh try to go and part the fight, and then Abel come out of nowhere and lash me with a wood across meh head,” he recounted.
After he received the lash, he fell to the ground and was bleeding profusely from his nose when Seetaram reportedly walked away with his son in the direction of the Fort Wellington Police Station.
Rabindranath stated that shortly after, he managed to compose himself and subsequently left for the Police Station with his son as well. A report was made and a medical document was given to him by the Police to visit the Fort Wellington Hospital.
Rabindranath was eventually transferred to the New Amsterdam Public Hospital, where he was admitted.
In May 2017, Seetaram was found guilty of three charges in relation to an accident involving a Government SUV when he appeared before Magistrate Rhondell Weever at the Blairmont Magistrate’s Court. He was charged with driving in a dangerous manner.
He was also charged with being an unlicensed driver, and with breach of insurance. He failed to appear in court, and was sentenced in his absence.
On the dangerous driving charge, he was fined $30,000 with an alternative of 32 days in jail. On the unlicensed driver charge, he was fined $25,000 or 21 days in jail, and on the charge of breach of insurance, he was fined $15,000 or 21 days in jail. A committal order has been issued for his arrest.