A 54-year-old itinerant vendor was fatally beaten in his Montrose, East Coast Deme-rara home yesterday after being accused of stealing a cellular phone.
Dead is Harold Gobin of Montrose. He had moved to the community from Berbice just about two months ago and was a “walk and sell” vendor. Up to yesterday afternoon, the suspect was not apprehended by police.
The police, in a statement, said that investigations into the murder revealed that a man, who had accused Gobin of stealing his cellular phone, went to his home yesterday morning and wrenched open the door with a hammer. The man then dealt Gobin several blows to his head and other parts of his body with the hammer and escaped, the police said. The injured man was later taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC), where he succumbed to his injuries while receiving medical attention.
Recalling the incident yesterday, the dead man’s son, Shan Gobin, told Stabroek News that he was asleep when he was awakened by the door being wrenched open. The incident occurred at about 5:30 am.
The assailant, he said, was a frequent visitor to a shop in the area. Shan related that the attacker asked him where his father was. “I seh he deh pon the verandah and so he gan to the verandah and start asking me old man for some phone what he pick up in the shop and start beating he with the hammer”, the grieving man said.
Shan said that the man continued beating his father despite the now dead man insisting that he had no knowledge about the phone. “I tell he left the man now nah…he tell me shut me mouth or else me gon get am too”, Shan said adding that he was afraid and was downstairs while his father was being beaten.
A neighbour, who was awakened by the fight, told this newspaper that she watched as Gobin was beaten with the hammer and said that his attacker also picked him up and threw him on the ground a number of times. “He really beat the man bad”, she commented. Gobin sustained severe injuries to his head and other parts of the body.
Relatives said that after the five-minute attack, the assailant went downstairs. He reportedly stated that he would give them up to midday, when he would return, to get the phone.
After the man left, relatives went upstairs to the battered and bleeding Gobin. “I go up and put ice on me father. I ask if he want to go to the hospital and he sey no”, Shan recalled. He said that around 10 am, Gobin, in severe pain, asked him to call an ambulance.
A taxi was called instead and he was taken to the hospital. Relatives stated that parts of the man’s body were swollen and he had begun bleeding out of his nose and mouth. He could not stand on his own also. Shortly after arriving at the GPH and while he was being treated, Gobin died.
The police had been notified and took statements from Shan and others. Shan said that his father never had any problems with the man before. Gobin is survived by his four children and other relatives.
(Gaulbert Sutherland)
SEE!!!! Another beating!!
where are all the cell phones, they stand there for five minutes watching the deadly entertainment without calling the police. where are the moral obligation, are our society that numb to stand and watch without doing anything.
when caught hang him without a trial.
freespeech,that is why when there is a robbery many times,the robbers get the advantage people have to learn to represent themselves,the man is in their home,and the son does not know how to defend his home and family,that attacker should have left the people’s house in peices,he was only one man and they all stood there until their father was half dead.sympathy to this family….Guyanese people learn some kind of self defence,or the advantage will never done’!!
The state of mind of the average Guyanese!?!? Human life has been reduced to that of a bug!! The average man has become an unconscionable & heartless beast. Is it a sign of the times, frustration or hoplessness? Or is it a combination of all of the aforementioned & more? What is the cause? I think we all have an idea.
So sad. I cant imagine what is really going on now. People are so sick in their mind these days. My condolences to the Gobin family
Well, they have kick down de door now is rinch down de door. This family seems no match for this bad man. he should not have walked out that house the hearse should have taken him out. I hope the police get him and the court give him the maximum penalty. This is another case of “Monkey no which limb to jump on” My deepest sympathy to this family.
Shan I’m sorry for your loss but you could have saved your father’s life. To allow someone to break and enter your property and to watch that individual beat your dad and do nothing is beyond belief. If you had intervened and killed this guy I WOULD BE 100% behind you because the law would be on your side for protecting your property from this invader. But to stand there and watch this guy brutally beat your dad is unforgivable. I don’t know how you can live with yourself now.
Son, how old r u? I can tell u this, if u dont get JUSTICE & I mean JUSTICE from teh court or police u take the law into your own hands. He must remember all the blows he gave u father. a cell phone u will take a man’s life fo???? let the police call the # & hear who answer it or trace the calls whoever is using it. he baad maan. he hamma wrench the door open, he hamma the man, lift am up & knack am down & then tell the family he coming back by 1pm to get he phone! HUH! Looks like this 1pm thing is getting common now… he should be charged with breaking & entering a man’s property, damaging to a mans property not leaving out MURDER! PREMEDITATE MURDER & treathing to go back & treathening the son.
HOPE TH E POLICE DONT LET THIS SUCKER WALK FREE.
wah son let his father get beat!!!!!!
“he would give them up to midday, when he would return, to get the phone.”
This man is an ignorant animal with pretty long ears (and I am certainly not talking about a rabbit)
He destroyed his life, as well as that of another over a cell phone?………….what on earth is this?
May he be caught sooner rather than later, and let him rot in jail……………………..show him no mercy, as he had none for Mr. Gobin
How old is this son? What kind of people in Guyana? You mean a man would come into your house after spending some time breaking the door to get in, and beat your dad like that. You mean you could not get an old bed iron, some chair foot or suh. Schuuuuup.
I am not advising anybody to be violent, but the son should have put up a fight. A lot of innocent people end up in jail in Guyana after they get into fight with village bullies, and the villages of Guyana are full of “numbskull” bullies. They are loud, they like to beat up on others who are seen as quiet and peaceful people.
Leo Rojo