Boy, 15, succumbs after thrashing

By Stabroek staff | Monday, May 31, 2010

-three arrested

A 15-year-old boy of No. 4 Village, West Coast Berbice who was attacked two Sundays ago succumbed to his injuries at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) yesterday and three youths have been taken into custody.

Reports are that the lad, Dave Daniel, was talking to a girl at the corner of a street at Cotton Tree Village, when about five other young men lashed him in the head. His mother, Mukhia Daniel, called ‘Ganga,’ told Stabroek News last evening that after the beating her son suffered severe headaches. However, he was afraid to tell anyone about the extent of his pain and what had caused it. She recalled that whenever he was asked to do any chores he would just say he could not because his head was hurting.

However, last Thursday he could no longer bear the pain after it became more intense and started to cry out. This was also followed by a bout of vomiting.

Dave was rushed to the Fort Wellington Hospital and then referred to the Mahaicony Hospital where a few tests were conducted. He was then transferred to the New Amsterdam Hospital and then to the GPH.

In tears, his mother told this newspaper that after the attack was apparently over, Dave saw his father, Eddie passing and asked him for $200 to purchase a phone card.

She said he did not tell his father that he was beaten up but later in the afternoon he went to his aunt’s house at No. 3 Village and told her his head was hurting and she gave him painkillers.

He later related to his cousins what had happened to him but did not want them to mention anything. After the headache was gone, the lad went home but said nothing about the incident.

Mukhia felt the boy was afraid to tell them that he was attacked because he was involved in a fight before and she had “cautioned him to stay away from trouble.”

She said a few days ago she noticed that the boy had started to act strange; he had destroyed most of his photographs in the house. He also visited relatives he had not seen in a while and on Thursday he gave his older brother Freddy his new “expensive” cellular phone that he hardly wanted to part with.

Police are awaiting the post-mortem examination, which would be conducted on Monday, in order to determine whether to proceed with charges.