A Cotton Tree, West Coast Berbice contractor was allegedly assaulted by an Alliance For Change (AFC) executive member and a group of men two weeks ago in Fort Wellington, Berbice but the AFC member has not responded to police requests to visit the station for questioning.
According to information reaching this newspaper, the contractor, Troy Lakeram, was assaulted by AFC executive member Abel Seetaram and a group of men on May 31st. Lakeram was admitted to the Fort Wellington Hospital for treatment but has since been released.
All efforts by Stabroek News to contact Seetaram proved futile.
Stabroek News also made attempts to contact Lakeram but these were unsuccessful. However, Lakeram’s employer, Alvin Chowramootoo told Stabroek News that his employee was headed home in his vehicle from a wedding house that Sunday night when the vehicle was stopped by a group of men.
Chowramootoo said Seetaram, a man who had threatened him on several occasions, started to hit the vehicle, demanding that his employee exit. “Lakeram told him if he get a problem with the boss then he should take it up with the boss not him,” Chowramootoo said, while adding that the men continued to strike the outside of the vehicle. He stated that Lakeram was then attacked by the men and struck on his head and in his stomach several times, and left on the road.
Chowramootoo said the matter was reported to the Fort Wellington Police Station but no one has been arrested. He said the police had made several attempts to have Seetaram report to the station but he never showed.
“Nothing is coming out of this matter. I can’t see why he is not arrested,” he said.
AFC executive member Pradeep Bhachan told Stabroek News that Seetaram’s behaviour is disrespectful to the political party. “His behaviour has not been in accordance with the principle of the AFC. We speak of accountably and that things should be exposed so we cannot hide this. His behaviour is totally unacceptable,” Bhachan said.
General Secretary of the AFC David Patterson told Stabroek News yesterday that he was not in receipt of such information but would investigate it immediately. He stated that no such report was made to him.
