Sandy Bay man beaten and robbed

The vociferous shouts of a neighbour investigating the frenzied barking of her dogs may have saved the life of Sandy Bay farmer Kel Ballantyne.{{more}}

“If it wasn’t for that lady they woulda kill me,” Ballantyne said. “She peep out she window when the dogs start barking and yell out to the guys outside, so they run left me.”

Still in obvious pain, the victim recounted how he was hospitalised with a broken jaw, cuts and bruises for close to three weeks after the incident about a month ago.

The 39-year-old man, speaking to SEARCHLIGHT on Friday, September 11, reported that he was attacked and robbed of cash and a cell phone on the night of Saturday, August 15, in the village of Cedars on the country’s Windward coast.

Ballantyne said at the time, he was walking from the village to the mountains where he works a parcel of land, shortly after 9 p.m.

His employer had paid him earlier that day, he said, and he had journeyed to the village to purchase items to cook.

He reported that while he was walking to his hut with another person, the three men jumped him.

“When is time for me to go home, three boys ambush me. Them knock me down first and then them break me jaw and then them chop me,” Ballantyne said.

“Is one time I get to scream out and then I didn’t know meself again.”

His companion fled during the attack.

Ballantyne reported to police that $200 and a cell phone were stolen during the attack, which left him with a laceration to his face that took numerous stitches to close.

The father of a seven-year-old boy believes that his attackers would have finished him off had it not been for the woman who heard her dogs barking and came out to investigate the commotion.

However, he is yet to learn the identity of his saviour, since when she visited him in hospital he was “not in a state” to question her.

Though thankful for life, Ballantyne is highly disappointed that he would become the victim of such a vicious attack, which may see him requiring medical treatment overseas to treat his broken jaw.

“I feel real bad. They disfigure me for my own money.”

Police in the Biabou district where the incident occurred confirmed that the injured man had made a report and investigations had already begun. (JJ)