Battered cane harvester died of stomach rupture -autopsy

A post-mortem examination performed on the remains of the Kilcoy cane-harvester who died last Thursday after a severe beating proved that he died from acute peritonitis and ruptured stomach.

Reports are that Tilackdharry “Chanu” Singh, 43, was kicked about his stomach by a rural constable (RC) on May 3. He succumbed two days later.

The RC was arrested and subsequently released after the maximum 72-hour period of incarceration without charge had elapsed.

Police sources said that the case file would have to be sent to the Director of Public Prosecution for advice before charges are instituted.

Singh’s mother, Jamoona Singh, 65, had said that she learnt that her son was beaten after his neighbour sent him to the RC’s house one street away to pick up her two-year-old daughter.

She later took her injured son to the Port Mourant Hospital, where he was given two injections and sent home. She took him to the New Amsterdam Hospital the following morning after his condition worsened.

The doctor there ordered x-rays and also gave him oxygen and saline. He later told her that her son had a 50/50 chance of survival and that his “inside damage up….”