Pensioner dies four days after beaten by son

Seventy-one year-old Rickford Bourne died at the Georgetown Public Hospital on Monday evening, four days after being badly beaten by his 36-year-old son Kwame Bourne.

The now dead Rickford Bourne at the hospital last weekend.

According to reports, Kwame Bourne would regularly threaten to kill his father when he did not receive money to support his smoking habit. The incident is reported to have happened sometime during last Thursday, May 19, in Turkeyen. It is said that an argument broke out between the father and son. During the quarrel, the son reportedly picked up an iron bar that was used to reinforce a window and struck his father repeatedly about the body.
The now dead man’s daughter, Aisha Bourne who lives some nine houses away, told this newspaper that she received a call from neighbours urging her to check on her father as quickly as possible as they had heard the man screaming. She said that she rushed over but by the time she arrived, her brother was already gone and she found her father lying on the floor trying to bandage his head and covered in blood.
She noted that her father had sustained a deep gash on his right forearm; his left eye was completely swollen shut and had at least three deep cuts in his head.
The woman said that she subsequently took him to the hospital where he was admitted. She noted that her brother, a known drug addict, was in the habit of threatening the elder Bourne and would repeatedly point out the iron bar in his threats. She even indicated that on one occasion as she attempted to intervene in an argument, the suspect had “chucked” her and threatened her as well.
Rickford Bourne according to reports was on life support at the hospital and eventually succumbed to his injuries at approximately 20:00 hrs on Monday. His daughter told Kaieteur News that she was going to visit her father when she received the dreadful news.
Police have indicated that a post mortem will be done today. They have since arrested Kwame Bourne and have identified the iron bar as the weapon used in the attack. The suspect is due to appear in court on Friday to face a charge of murder.