22nd of February, 2022. Region 6, Guyana, South America
Last updated: February 23, 2022 at 10:24 am
On Sunday, 20th of February, 2022, at Free Yard, Port Mourant, Corentyne, Berbice, Region 6, Guyana, South America, a young Guyanese woman was attacked and brutally chopped to the head by a gang of people armed with cutlasses, sticks, and other weapons.
A Tictok video which went viral on social media today, 22nd of February, 2022, shows the woman pushing her bicycle along the street while being closely followed and threatened by an angry mob armed with sticks and cutlasses. In the video, a woman then grabbed the victim and dealt her several blows while another approached and fired a chop to her head which resulted in a gaping wound.
In an interview with this publication, 28-year-old Amrita Singh said that she and her family had been terrorized for years by the attackers. According to Amrita, the attacker, Samuel Chisholm, also known as “Tally” and “John,” had been in the habit of stealing their poultry and other items for years, and she and her husband had made several reports to the police – none of which resulted in any affirmative action against Mr. Samuel Chisholm.
On Saturday, 19th of February, 2022, she and her husband, Andrew Alphonso, were at a wedding house when Samuel and his wife, Varshanie, came in with cutlasses to attack them. However the owner of the home expelled the aggressors and Amrita and her husband subsequently made a report to the police which resulted in Samuel and his wife being arrested. They were, however, released shortly after, the same night.
The next morning, Sunday, 20th of February, 2022, Amrita left her home on bicycle to go to the shop down the street to buy a soda. There, she was confronted by an angry mob which composed of Samuel Chisholm, his wife, Varshanie Cyril, his wife’s sister, Melissa Edwin, also known as Melo, and a few others. Amrita said that she got off her bike and started pushing the bicycle fearing that if she rode, one of them might chop her on the back. As she was walking, Samuel’s sister-in-law, Melissa Edwin, grabbed her and dealt her several blows with a Heineken bottle. At that point, Varshanie ran up with the cutlass and dealt Amrita a chop to the head.
“Thank God I turned my face in time, or the cutlass would have connected to my face, and the wound would have been much worst. I would have probably died.”
Amrita related to this publication that she and her husband, Andrew Francis Alphonso, had been working hard and trying to live a peaceful life for years. Her husband is a labourer who would accept any job he can get, and they both would invest in poultry and livestock in addition to engaging in gardening activities.
But Amrita said she and her husband, who “don’t know how to fight” were constantly being threatened, attacked, and robbed by Samuel Chisholm and his wife who is an accomplice to his criminal actions. She said that the general population is afraid of Chisholm who is regarded as the “bad man” of the area and who frequently rides around with a cutlass on his bicycle.
The young woman related that Samuel had said that he would put his wife, Varshanie Cyril, known as “Didi” to kill her (Amrita) while he would kill Amrita’s husband, Andrew Alphonso.
According to the young woman, despite numerous reports to the police station, nothing was done by the police to constrain the couple, and this leads the couple to suspect that their attackers have some links with certain members of the Police Force. Even up to the last attack, Amrita said that the police did not believe their story of what transpired and allowed Samuel, his wife, and her wife’s sister, to remain at large. It wasn’t until the video surfaced on Facebook that it was viewed by a senior member of the force who assured Amrita that the case will be reviewed and more decisive actions might be taken against the attackers.
Meanwhile, the attackers have threatened to harm the person who made the video, and have also threatened to harm Amrita and her husband, as well as their nine-year-old son. Amrita said that one time Samuel took away her son’s bicycle. It was returned some days after with the tire punctured.
Up to this evening (22nd of February) Amrita’s attackers were reportedly still at large and walking free.
