Police continue search for Venezuelan trio who beat, chopped Corneila Ida teen

Police are continuing their search for three Venezuelan suspects who reportedly beat and chopped a 17-year-old Cornelia Ida, West Coast Demerara (WCD) teen on Monday evening.

Divisional Commander, Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) Senior Superintendent Errol Watts said efforts are continuing to arrest three suspects. Watts told Village Voice Guyana that while no arrests have been made, ranks of the Guyana Police Force are patrolling the area.

The victim, Navindra Bharat, was dealt several lashes with a bicycle chain about his body and then chopped with a cutlass by the trio. Police said that at about 18:00h on Monday, the three suspects were physically abusing their sisters-in law in their yard. The sisters-in-law reportedly sought refuge in Bharat’s yard. However, Bharat’s mother sent them away.

Bharat subsequently left his home to attend therapy a few houses away and on completion, he was standing on a nearby corner with some friends when the three suspects approached him and assaulted him. The injured man managed to escape but collapsed in front of his yard where he lost consciousness.
He suffered a fractured skull among other injuries.

Meanwhile, when asked to confirm reports that the suspects have been terrorizing residents of Cornelia Ida, the Senior Superintendent of Police said he is unaware of such reports.

“Those allegations that were made were not communicated to us, but to the media and our intelligence has not shown anything like that. It’s just a smoking gang on both sides of the family, operating silly and the gang is actually engaged into smoking and other illegal activities,” Watts said noting that Bharat’s family and the Venezuelan family have had a feud for years.

Investigations are ongoing.