Rum shop handyman chopped in altercation

A handyman was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) last evening after an altercation  left him with several injuries including an almost severed left hand.

Relatives say that 44-year-old Jairam Indal, of 338 8th Street, Success, East Coast Demerara (ECD), intervened in an argument at a local rum-shop between the shop’s owner and another man, Asif (only name given), when he was dealt several chops.

Indal’s relatives  were nervous and emotional as the awaited word from the doctors
Indal’s relatives were nervous and emotional as the awaited word from the doctors

Indal was subsequently rushed to the hospital while his attacker, who fled the scene, is yet to be apprehended by police.

When Stabroek News visited the hospital last evening, several of the man’s relatives, including three of his sisters, his niece, uncle and brother-in-law, were nervously awaiting word on his condition. They had not yet been briefed by doctors.

Annesa Munilal, the man’s cousin, told Stabroek News that herself and several other relatives were at their Success home when a  boy turned up and told them that “Indal get chop up at a shop at Backstreet).” Shortly after, she said, another friend of the family turned up at the house and confirmed what they had been told earlier.

Several of Indal’s relatives then rushed to the rum-shop where they found him lying in a pool of blood. She said that he bore several injuries about his body, and his left arm, which was mostly severed, was covered by a jersey.

Munilal said that persons who witnessed the incident told her that the shop’s owner had gotten into an argument, with Asif, who, sometime during the fracas, drew a cutlass and advanced towards him.

Eyewitnesses say that Indal, who served as the shop’s handyman, intervened at this point, and begged the man not to attack the shop owner. Munilal said she was told that the shop owner used this opportunity to flee the scene, after which, Asif turned his cutlass on Indal, dealing him several chops about his body.

Munilal said she was told that several persons were standing around when the incident occurred, but that none of them attempted to intervene for fear of being attacked.

Munilal said that when she saw her uncle on the ground she touched him in the face and asked him if he was ok. After the man replied and said that he was ok, she said she then asked him if he was aware of who attacked him, “he said yes, Asif.”