Sheldon Harry, one of the persons who was doused with gasoline and set alight at a mining camp in Puruni, in Region Seven, just over two weeks ago, succumbed to his injuries on Monday morning.
Harry, a 22-year-old gold miner of Parika, East Bank Essequino (EBE), and his girlfriend, Greici, 30, were both doused with gasoline and allegedly set alight on June 5 by Christian Joseph, also known as ‘Son Son.’
The Guyana Police Force (GPF) had issued a wanted bulletin for Joseph three days after the attack but the man has not yet been apprehended.
Speaking with Stabroek News yesterday, Leanna Barnes, the dead man’s aunt, related that the attack was the culmination of a violent argument that the accused had with his girlfriend. As a result, the man’s girlfriend, who was friends of both Harry and Greici, went to their camp to seek shelter, making them the target of Joseph.
“This man by the name of Christian Joseph had some problems with his girlfriend and was beating on her, so she went over to my nephew (Sheldon Harry) and his girlfriend (Greici) for help because they’re friends. When she got there, the man followed her and was tormenting her all day. When it became overbearing, my nephew decided to talk to the man because the man was bringing drama to his work place and his camp ground. The man and my nephew are both gold miners and never had problems prior. When my nephew tried talking to him, he took his anger out on my nephew and ran towards him with gasoline in a bucket and a stick lit with fire.”
“When my nephew ran, he (Joseph) threw the gasoline which caused him (Harry) to catch on fire. My nephew girlfriend then tried to help put the fire out and she also suffered some bad burns,” the woman said.
Harry’s aunt added that based on videos that she had received from her nephew’s girlfriend, it appeared that Joseph had been tormenting them from about 07:00 hrs until 18:00 hrs.
The woman further said that she was told that after Joseph realised what he had done, he then tried to help put out the fire that was consuming Harry, but he was of little help and he subsequently ran away.
The grieving woman disclosed that her nephew had spent an entire night without any medical attention, since there was no boat available to transport him or his girlfriend from Puruni to the Bartica Hospital. It was not until the next day that they were able to get medical attention.
“They both were transported to Bartica hospital Monday morning… When they arrived there, Greici was able to be transported by boat from Bartica to go to GPH and he was flown down from Bartica that afternoon,” the woman related.
Barnes said Harry suffered second and third degree burns to about 80% of his body, while his girlfriend suffered first and second degree burns.
“…He did surgery on Friday to scrape the burnt skin… Greici suffered first and second degree burns on about 20% of her body. She had her surgery last Monday. She’s healing fine,” said the woman.
Barnes said that that her family had hopes for Harry’s recovery, since he had always showed them a smiling face while being in pain at the hospital.
“We all thought he was going to pull through. Well he did for two weeks and even through his pain, every day we went to visit him, he never showed us he was hurting. He was strong, a fighter,” the woman said. (Aviso Paul)
