Relative: ‘… they tried to finish her off’
Attackers changed bloodied clothing in store
Dhanwantie Phulchand, a proprietor in the City Mall who was robbed, chopped and battered on Saturday afternoon, was in a stable condition at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) yesterday.
Police have since taken a male and female into custody. The two, according to reports, are members of a gang that hang out and dance in front of the mall’s Regent Street entrance.
Phulchand, who operates Rishma’s Fashion, was admitted to the hospital on Saturday evening. Initial reports said that sometime before 5 pm the woman was alone in her store when the man walked in and demanded cash and items. She refused and the man began chopping her about the body.
When this newspaper visited the City Mall that afternoon, blood was splattered across the floor of the boutique. Other store owners said that the suspect is a known character and had previously attacked another person at the mall.
Stabroek News had reported that Phulchand’s attacker was formerly employed by her. However, relatives yesterday said that the man was never the woman’s employee but previously worked in another of the mall’s stores.
“She wasn’t chopped alone,” one of Phulchand’s relatives said yesterday. “She was beaten too…they tried to finish her off.”
Relatives said that they’d been informed that Phulchand was in a stable condition. The woman’s head was heavily bandaged and she complained of constant pain when Stabroek News visited her shortly after 12 pm yesterday. She is currently a patient of the hospital’s High Dependency Unit (HDU).
Phulchand, relatives said, was attacked by both the male and female. While one chopped her, the other battered her. After the attack, they said, the duo changed their bloody clothing in Phulchand’s store.
“Imagine,” another relative said, “after they finish with her they change their clothes right in the store. They took new clothes from her store and left their dirty ones there. Those are in police custody as well.”
Security, distressed relatives pointed out, was practically non-existent at the City Mall. Phulchand’s attacker simply walked in and then calmly left as if nothing had happened.
Dhanwantie Phulchand
This, Phulchand’s relatives pointed out, leaves all business owners and employees at great risk. The problem, they stressed, needs to be addressed as soon as possible.
Two of the mall’s stores have entrances on Camp Street and there are two or three other entrances on Regent Street. None of these entrances are manned by a security guard and there are no bag bays in the mall. A person is allowed to walk freely through the establishment and can take any item inside.
Phulchand’s incident, relatives said, has left many of the mall’s proprietors and their employees alarmed.
The need to have better security at that mall, this is not the first time that something like that happen, the people need to demand better security.
Hope for a speedy recovery but I see the paper carried a photo of her cropped well down to her midrift. What about a photo of the poor miner who got killed ? “Relatives said”. Where is the police report on the matter ? ….
Just a few words of advice. When and if you are asked for the MONEY, give it up. I am sitting here writing this note, because I gave it up in my store in Manhattan NYC 22 years ago. The two bandits had 3 gun.I did get pistol whipped in the head and mouth,He did pull the trigger; but the gun failed. It was a good thing he did’nt get my gun . You can’t win them, their minds are made up to KILL, in order to get away. Hope yu feel better .
Funny enough though, I had a lot of Guyanese in my employment,
one that was married to a Puerto Rican, set me up to be robbed by two spanish speaking bandits. He now sits in jail for life
in a planned murder for another robbery. They could have killed me.So my child Just Give it up and dont look in their faces, Guyana is small, everybody knows everybody.
This guy that set me up, I had loaned him my truck, as he was a driver, taken him to my home in Long Island, and given him my entire Bedroon furniture.Another Guyanese employee had told me that he had a new Baby, and they had no furniture in the apartment. They all slept on the floor.
Just to let yu know race has nothing to do with this, as we are both Indians; and I am a very giving and kind man.The Lord was looking out for me.I am now 70 and live well.Thank yu God.
May God heal yu and make yu strong again.
May you be blessed. By the way i am Black with some Chinese, but classify myself as being Black. You are correct, race has nothing to do with it.
Moe, a lot of years back we were all led and taught about race.
Growing up as between, black,indiand, chinese etc was never an issue. We never saw colour.It was the dam politians who invoke
this racial ting between the two major races for THEIR OWN POLITICAL GAIN. If yu want I’ll call name, both PPP & PNC
got Guyana where it is today. People are on opposite of the fence throwing everything at each other, When You and I both know That Coolieman & Blackman got to live in Guyana with each other for betterment to the poorer class of Guyanese.
Who rich, stays rich, will get richer, it’s about time we think differently and cast the vote not by race, but by who can do the best for the majority( POOR people).
but if you do the crime you have to sacrifice the time one way or the other. sad, hope she recover soon. they should have cameras around the city by now?
TOWA, sorry to hear of all you have been thru and am thankful you made it thru.
It’s so har dot hear how small businesspeople, just trying to make an honest living cannot even trust and employee to do right by them.
It’s sad to think a young girl would do something like this for a little piece of money.
Better security needed at that mall. Mr. crime chief please don’t allow this one to slip by either.
Wish her a speedy recovery. But something needs to be done about this foolishness. Going to Guyana to live seem like at every window there has to be weapons in order to protect yaself, property and family.
We can’t expect them to have a bag bay at the mall that’s just ridiculous but i guess if those measures need to be taken in order to ensure people’s safety then that’s what has to be done. However, security is definitely needed and am surprised that such a place like the mall has no security guards. The smallest establishment on Regent Street has a guard why would the owners of the mall not think of having security? Speedy recovery to this young woman who is trying to make an honest living as an independent woman.
what a shame what is going on in guyana
i wish Dhanwantie get better soon
What Mall? sounds more like a vendors arcade to me with people walking in and out freely and no security checks whatsoever.
which mall you go to and can’t walk in and out freely?
First all why is it that there is a police presence at Pegasus and not at these malls? Secondly, i have never been to a “MALL” and see a bag bay so store owners be realistic. In your stores like other malls around the world you will have to employ your own in-store security, however, Mr. John (Owner of City Mall) is responsible for the overall secuirty of this Mail and should have the necessary security available to protect Patrons as well as Store owners. Thirdly, is there a security operations unit that man the cameras and any security personnel this mall may have? This can be a great asset in pre-empting any attacks by these criminals.
they have to be smart by installing both live camera and fake camera to show that the place is well protected