Van men beaten in brutal attack

A weekend that should have been one of birthday celebrations for a Campden Park van driver ended in a bloody mess, when a gang of men attacked him and his best friend at Stubbs.

Olando “Flairy” Harry, 29, and Shevron “Shef” Pierre, his conductor and best friend, left home last Saturday with intentions of celebrating Harry’s birthday.

Speaking with SEARCHLIGHT from his bed at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital (MCMH), Harry said that both he and Pierre went to the Miss SVG pageant on Saturday night and when they arrived at an after party in Kingstown, some friends offered to pay him to take them to Stubbs, where rural Carnival activities were taking place.

“I went to Stubbs freely because I did not have any disagreement with anyone in Stubbs,” said Harry.

He said he partied behind the truck down to Stubbs Bay and then drove to a road leading to Calder, after hearing that persons were still partying there.

However, when they got out of the van, a gang of men attacked him.

“A few of my colleagues keep saying leave the man, wrong guy! Wrong guy! But they still coming on to me, so I run back to the van,” Harry recalled.

He said about five or six men began hitting him and when Pierre tried to push them off and pleaded with them to leave him (Harry) alone, they kept coming.

Harry said he shouted to Pierre and they ran inside the van and began to drive off, but two of their attackers had hopped into the van and began to choke Pierre.

“So, I mash a brakes and one fell out the van, then after I just saw a car come and block off the van, so I try run out and they hold me on the ground and start beating me and I was unconscious and I never catch back myself until I reach in the hospital.”

Pierre, who also spoke to SEARCHLIGHT, said he saw about 15 men beating Harry on the ground before they turned their attention to him.

“So, me ah ask dem, ‘yo wey gine on? Wey me and alyo get? Me and alyo never get nothing’,”

Pierre said a cousin who was present came to their defence and tried to explain to the attackers that they had the wrong guys and when they jumped into the van, Harry, Pierre and the cousin were separated from the group they came with.

“When we reach Argyle and look now, a wagon fly past the van full ah man and block off the road.”

Pierre said that Harry stopped the van and when they saw that the men were armed with guns and cutlasses, they tried to escape the area on foot.

He said he and his cousin ran towards coast by the road to Rawacou, but he (Pierre) fell into a gutter, “but my cousin tek off his shoe and climb the airport fence and run cross the airport and them buss some shot behind he.”

Pierre said airport patrol spotted his cousin, who explained to them that he was being chased by armed assailants; meanwhile, the men continued to beat on Pierre.

He told SEARCHLIGHT that while the men beat him, one pointed a gun at him and another raised a cutlass as if to chop him.

However, he said he was planned instead, and hit in his face with a bottle.

The Campden Park man said he tried to show the men his identification card to show them that they have the wrong man but instead they stole his money, cellular phone and his gold chain.

It was not until airport patrol arrived on the scene that the men shouted “Police! Police!” stopped their attack, and fled the area.

Pierre was then found drenched in blood.

“All them time deh me think Flairy (Harry) escape… but all the time Flairy dey up the road,” he told SEARCHLIGHT.

Pierre said he doesn’t know what caused the incident, adding that other people told him that residents of the area were saying that they (Pierre and Harry) did not interfere with anyone from the area.

Up to press time, both Pierre and Harry were still warded at the MCMH, with stitches to their faces.

Pierre disclosed that he was treated for the cutlass wounds across his back, and his lungs had to be punched and attached to a tube in order to release air because of the damage received during the beatings.

Meanwhile, Harry’s eyes were still bloodshot on Wednesday and his face swollen.

Both men made a cry for justice, with Harry stating that although he recognized some of the men, he could not fathom what would cause them to attack him.

“It go hard to see we go out there to enjoy weself; we nah no threat to nobody; we nah walk with no weapon nothing; we just go to have a nice time,” Pierre commented.

“That is bad for the community too; people ain’t go war go out there and for tourist to hear them things around Carnival time; the publicity bad.”

Police are investigating. (AS)