Sophia man robbed, stabbed after church service remains traumatised

A 51-year-old Sophia resident remains traumatised after robbers ambushed and brutally stabbed him before stealing his phone and leaving him for dead just after he attended a church service on Father’s Day.

Two months later, the man is recovering but he said the incident has left him fearful for his safety.

Sean Garraway told the News Room on Wednesday that he was robbed on June 18 while he was rerunning home from a Father’s Day gathering at a church in Sophia. He had returned from Trinidad and Tobago after living there for 10 years just about a month before the stabbing incident.

“I was invited to attend a Father’s Day dinner [and Church service] at the Sophia Seventh Day Adventist Church which I am a member of and walking back home about 10 pm, I felt a blow to the back of my head and it dimmed my senses. Like I feel like my eyeballs pelt out.

“They took an A12 Samsung Galaxy cellphone and the gift I received from the church.  I don’t know what was in the gift bag because I didn’t open it,” Garraway recounted.

Garraway sustained seven stab wounds to his abdomen. These were deep wounds that needed several stitches. After the stabbing, Garraway ran to his neighbour’s yard where he collapsed.

“The blood on the ground was like my hands in paint,” Garraway recalled. He was rescued by a young man who performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on him. He said this fast action saved his life.

Garraway was transported to the Georgetown Public Hospital where he was a patient for six days; he also underwent surgery.

Added to the scars from the wounds, Garraway also has scarring from the tubes and other incisions made as part of his treatment. He now has swelling on several parts of his abdomen.

But Garraway remains saddened and traumatised by the incident. He explained that he was a construction worker in Trinidad and only came to Guyana to undergo a medical procedure. He said since the incident, he has become afraid.

The matter was reported to the Police but he said there has been no justice.

“These people treat me like if I was a wild animal. Just stab me up and left me to die. It’s not like if we were in a fight or I disrespect anybody wife. I had no money on me… you almost kill me for a phone?”