Beaten San Fernando man dies at hospital

POLICE investigations into the beating of a man from Picton, San Fernando, will now turn into a murder inquiry after he died in hospital on August 29.

Speaking to Newsday, a relative who wished to remain anonymous, said Clivey Babwah, 64, was found clinging to life around 5 am on August 26 at Picton Street Junction. The relative said he appeared to have been beaten.

He was taken to the San Fernando General Hospital, where he was warded in the intensive care unit before dying of his injuries around 9 am on Thursday.

"The doctor say his ribs were broken...his jaw fractured, (and) he had a laceration on his head where they had to cut off a piece of the skull for the brain (because) it was bleeding."

The relative said the man was known to the community as "Gratty." Although he was not homeless, the relative said Babwah, a former psychiatry patient at "ward one," spent a lot of time on the streets begging for money to fuel his drug addiction.

The relative said word among the community had placed the blame squarely on one of the villagers.

"That same particular guy had beat him last year and cut up his face and thing.

"You know it does have (people) like they proud to kick up a man on the street...tax him or something like that? This guy is like that. It have a few of them like that."

The relative said Babwah was not one to get into any fights or quarrels with anyone.

On August 24 a 60-year-old man from Sennon Village, Siparia was warded in critical condition after good Samaritans found him with several stab wounds by the roadside.

Days earlier, on August 19, Emlyn Adams, 82, was stabbed 16 times during a home invasion at her Princes Town house. Despite the alarming number of wounds, she survived and was taken to hospital.