An Enterprise, East Coast Demerara man was called out of his home on Wednesday night, given a sound beating by four men and eventually died at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC).
Dead is Dennis Richards, 19, of 37 Enterprise Gardens, East Coast Demerara. Police in a statement yesterday said the man was allegedly beaten about his body with pieces of wood by four men at neighbouring Melanie at about 9:30 on Wednesday night.
At the man’s home last evening his girlfriend and sister could barely contain their tears and were unable to speak. However his brother-in-law Stephen Rodrigues told this newspaper that Richards, who only returned from Port Kaituma, where he worked with this mother, three weeks ago, had gone home at about 9 pm. He said shortly after he heard some male voices call out to him and he left home in the company of some boys who Stephen said he did not know. He said that it was about half hour after Richards left, one of his friends came and informed them that he was in an abandoned house a stone’s throw away and looked as though he had suffered a sound beating.
“He friend come and he tell we that he get beat up and he over in the house and I went over and I hold he up and we bring he over and he wasn’t talking so we couldn’t get from he is what happen or is who beat him but he was bleeding through his ears.” Rodrigues said the friend who had brought the news was questioned and told relatives that he saw Richards being hit across his face with a piece of wood, and even though he saw when the last was dealt he did not know the assailant.
Rodrigues, who shares the home with Richards and his sister as well as Richards’ girlfriend, said it was unusual for him to go back out after coming home at that hour. He also said that he was unaware of Richards having any problems with any persons in the area. Asked whether any of the man’s belongings were taken, Rodrigues said as far as he knew Richards only had a cellular phone in his possession and this was found in his pants pocket when he was taken home. According to him, the teen was also not wearing jewellery.
Richards’ sister and his girlfriend, he said, rushed him to the hospital, and he was later taken to the St. Joseph Mercy Hospital for a CT scan. According to him he passed away at around 5 yesterday morning.
Efforts by relatives to question persons living close to the abandoned house were futile, since according to Rodrigues, they said they heard nothing.
He said he later entered the building but there was no trace of blood. Police have since questioned the other teens who occupy the house and two men are reportedly in police custody assisting with investigations. A post-mortem examination is scheduled for today.
