Electrified fence kills boy, 15

Rage and sorrow flowed through Melanie Damishana, East Coast Demerara yesterday after a 15-year-old boy was electrocuted while holding onto a poultry farmer’s fence.

Leondrew Davis

The dead child is Leondrew Davis of 87 Melanie South. According to reports, the boy died after coming into contact with an electrified fence surrounding the property of a poultry rearer identified as Grafton Wright of Linden Drive, Melanie Damishana.

Wright, who was taken into police custody last evening, had visible marks of violence which his relatives said were inflicted by irate villagers.

Leondrew’s cousin Candace Davis said he had left to go play football with friends as they normally did every afternoon in the vicinity of Wright’s property. According to the woman, the football reportedly went into the man’s yard and upon seeing Wright approaching on a bicycle the boys decided to await his arrival to retrieve their ball.

However, the man ignored the boys, Davis said, adding that they had all been leaning against the fence before the man arrived. Davis said she learnt that all of them except her cousin moved away from the fence and it was then that tragedy struck.

“They see a light come on,” the woman relayed, adding that the boys then realised that Leondrew had not moved from the fence but was gripping it with both hands and appeared to be in pain. The woman said she was told that the light went off after Wright looked out and apparently saw what had happened.

According to the woman, someone tried CPR on her cousin but in less than a minute he was dead. The boy was then taken to the practice of a private doctor nearby, where he was reportedly pronounced dead, before the body was taken to the Vigilance Police Station.

Stabroek News was at the station last evening when Wright was brought in and observed that he had a head wound and a swollen eye.

“He seh a woman chop he in he head,” one relative who chose to remain unidentified said. The man was processed and placed in a cell.

When Stabroek News visited the scene of the incident around 8 pm a large angry crowd had gathered and armed police were there trying to pacify the residents. It was also observed that a car said to belong to Wright had been damaged and the police were trying to tow away the vehicle.

Shortly after, someone, said to be Wright’s son, turned up at the house in another car which clearly agitated the crowd. A police officer urged him to flee for his safety.

Bystanders said Wright, who is reportedly a religious minister, usually electrified his fence to deter thieves from making off with his poultry.

Efforts to get a comment from the police were unsuccessful.