A 27-year-old labourer of Hand-en-Veldt, Mahaica was stabbed to death yesterday by inmates of the Georgetown Prison, one day after he was placed on remand for a larceny charge when he appeared at the Mahaica Magistrate’s Court.
Davendra ‘Nave’ Beharry was taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital where he was pronounced dead. Relatives told this newspaper yesterday that someone had stolen some spare parts from Chris Auto Sales where Beharry had been employed and given him to sell.
According to an uncle, Krishna Deepnarine, his nephew was consuming alcohol in a shop on Monday when the police received information about the stolen articles and arrested him. He said the man was taken to court on Thursday and he was shocked to receive the news about his death.
Deepnarine said that although the unmarried Beharry loved to drink he was very quiet and helpful. “He would come in easy when he drink; he don’t say anything to anybody…”
The man lived with his mother, Bhagwandai Beharry while his father, Balchand Beharry stayed in the Abary Creek to work on a cattle ranch.
Bhagwandai told this newspaper last evening that she had gone into the creek to visit her husband when she got a call at around 3 pm yesterday that her son was badly injured and was in the hospital.
She said that it was not until after she got to her home at Mahaica that she was given the news about her son’s death.
The Georgetown Prison up to late last evening had not issued a statement on Beharry’s death. A police press release said that Beharry was found dead in his cell. It added “investigations have so far revealed that about 2100 h (Thursday) he was behaving abnormally in his cell located in the social block, when he was attacked by two other inmates and sustained injuries”. A post-mortem examination is to be done.
Repeated efforts made to contact Director of Prisons, Dale Erskine yesterday were futile. Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee could not be reached last evening for a comment either.
Beharry is one of several inmates who have been attacked in prison recently with sharp objects.
A prison inmate, whose name is unknown to Stabroek News, was on Saturday admitted a patient to GPH after he was stabbed in the chest during a fight with another prisoner. The man was up to Tuesday a patient of the male open ward of GPH and was under police guard. He was not allowed to speak to the media about what happened. A press release sent by the hospital’s Public Relations Department had said that the unnamed 37-year-old inmate was rushed to the Accident and Emergency Unit after being stabbed.
