One bludgeoned to death, two in hospital following Mahaica land dispute

Feb 04, 2015 News

By Dale Andrews  
A 25-year-old Chartered Accountant was brutally killed during a bitter dispute over a piece of land in the Mahaica Creek area yesterday afternoon.

Dead: Suresh Nandkishore

Suresh Nandkishore called ‘Ravo’ was reportedly beaten to death by members of the neighbouring Dharamdat family, with whom his family has a longstanding dispute over a few acres of rice land at a place called Handsome Tree
His father Bhopaul Nandkishore and his older brother Parmanand, both sustained injuries while at least two members of the opposing family, Sukhdeo Dharamdat and his son, received treatment for injuries they sustained during the melee.
Several villagers were alerted to the tragedy and they converged on the scene only to find the young man lying motionless on the ground with his head covered with blood, while his father, who has an injured foot, lay a few feet away.
Yesterday’s incident came as no surprise to villagers who informed that it was brewing for awhile, ever since the court ruled in favour of the Nandkishores in the land dispute.
In fact they confirmed that the family had been threatened, causing them to seek the assistance of the police at the Mahaica Police Station.
According to reports, the Nandkishores were in the process of erecting a fence on the disputed property when a heated argument erupted between them and the other family, which led to a fight.
Parmanand Nandkishore told this newspaper that he had to play dead to save his life.
He explained that when he, his father and brother went to the land yesterday, they hadn’t the slightest idea that they would have been attacked, since the neighbour, Dharamdat, with whom they have the dispute, came there too and appeared to have no objection.
But Dharamdat returned with his two sons, one of whom was armed with a cutlass. According to Parmanand Nandkishore, the men picked up two of the posts that were meant for the fence and began lashing them about their bodies.
He said that his brother Suresh tried to walk away, but was cornered and dealt several lashes to his head which cracked open his skull, killing him almost instantly.
He said that he too was badly injured and could not get away quickly.
“Dis man tell he sons dem that they can’t lef we alive because dey gun go to jail,” Parmanand Nandkishore told Kaieteur News. He said that he tried to run away but the men attacked him again, this time beating him so badly that he fell to the ground.
“I play dead. Imagine me had to bear me pain jus fuh save me father and me brother. Although me deh lie down, dis man still ah lash me,” he said.
The young man however managed to see when they threw his father into a nearby trench and tried to drown him.
“Me father was unconscious in de trench,” he added.     But one of Dharamdat’s sons told Kaieteur News that it was they who were attacked and had to defend themselves. He said that it was the Nandkishores who attacked his father, chopping him to the face.
“We had to fight back,” the detainee said.
Parmanand Nandkishore could not say how Dharamdat received the injury to his face.
Dharamdat had turned up at the GPHC with a gaping wound to his face, claiming that he was chopped.
“I surprise dat he say he get chop. Me never see any chop pon he. Me brother dead and me father was unconscious in de trench, so I was the only one who had to play dead. So how me alone gon fight dem fuh get fuh chop he?” Parmanand Nandkishore said.
The dead man’s mother Gourie Nandkishore confirmed that her son was killed over the plot of land that the neighbour was fighting them for.
Struggling to hold back tears, the woman said that her family holds the lease for a 75-acre plot of land not too far from their home. She said that the Dharamdats tried to cheat them out of 25 acres of the said land, and this led to the matter going to court, even after the Lands and Surveys department had intervened in their favour.
“When we went to court, the court said that the land belong to we,” she said. This happened a few months ago and since then things started to escalate. She said that following the court ruling, the neighbour had threatened her.
“He tell me when I come with the lease the day, that he gone end me family. He say he go kill me husband and me two sons,” the woman stated.
She said that the threat was reported to the police who warned the neighbour to keep his distance and not to interfere with the court-appointed owners of the land. But the warning appeared to have been disregarded, since Dharamdat continued to trespass on the land.
Mrs. Nandkishore explained that since her husband and her sons were busy with their rice plot, they did not have time to go to the police to report the violation of the warning.
Since they had left some cattle on the disputed land to graze, the Nandkishores, using the lull in their rice cultivation activities, went to the land to erect a fence yesterday.
According to Mrs. Nandkishore, they had informed the police of their intended activity and were promised assistance in the form of security, in the event that the neighbour thought of making good on his threat.
She was a bit apprehensive when her husband and her sons insisted on going to the land by themselves without waiting for the promised assistance from the police. Nevertheless they left and went to the land.
“Me ain’t know what happen; all I know is one of me sons come over back and tell me call a taxi, that how, ‘awe get bad beat up and chop up.’  And den he say, ‘mommy Ravo dead and me hustle fuh save me life’,” Mrs. Nandkishore recalled.
She said that at first she did not believe her son, but reality stepped in when she saw a number of villagers running towards the disputed land.  She said she enquired from her son, who was bleeding from wounds to his face, where his father was, and was told that her husband was left lying on the said plot of land, badly injured.
“Me husband got a bad foot, so after de man and he two sons attack, me husband can’t do nothing,” she explained. Mrs. Nandkishore eventually summoned the courage to go on the scene where her worst fears were confirmed – her son was indeed dead.
“My son was a chartered accountant. One year now he looking for a job,” she said.
Police have detained one man and are awaiting word from doctors before they can move forward with interviewing the injured.