Female Administrator at center of investigations following brawl at Hugo Chavez Rehab Centre

By Fareeza Haniff

[www.inewsguyana.com] – It was chaos at the Hugo Chavez Rehabilitation Centre at Onverwagt, Region Five on Saturday night (September 12) when a drunk resident beat up a number of persons at the homeless shelter, resulting in five of them sustaining serious injuries.

He has been identified as Gregory Mitzelholzer, who is known for being physically abusive. iNews has confirmed that he was arrested by ranks of the Fort Wellington Police Station and remains in police custody.

Senior Superintendent of the Police ‘B’ Division, E. Watts told iNews that the police force is seeking legal advice on the way forward in this matter. He confirmed that a female Administrator of the Rehab Centre took the accused and other residents of the Rehab Centre to a ‘wake house’ where they reportedly consumed a “substance” resulting in the accused behaving in such a violent manner.

According to the Senior Superintendent, investigations thus far have revealed that the Administrator did not seek permission before taking the residents out of the facility; additionally he noted that they should have been supervised in a more efficient manner.

A source close to the Rehab Centre told iNews that seven of the residents from the Centre were taken to a ‘wake house’ at Ross Village on the night in question by the Administrator of the Centre, Dharamdai Subhan, who allegedly allowed them to imbibe alcohol.

According to the source, a fight broke out at the ‘wake house’, led by Mitzelholzer.

“These boys break up the wake. They imbibe in the brown rum and they drink mussy over five bottles and the wake break up,” the source told iNews.

Upon returning at the Centre, the accused allegedly woke up the residents by beating them; he is also accused of slapping a 76 – year –old man several times and cuffing a patient who suffers from Kidney failure in his abdomen.

During the fracas, some of the residents ran out of the Centre where they found another resident lying face down in a drain; it is reported that this resident was also drunk and is said to be epileptic. He too was hospitalized.

Meanwhile, iNews made contact with Ms Subhan on Monday, September 14, 2015 via telephone but she refused to comment on the issue. Ms Subhan told iNews that she needs to seek permission from her boss, Wentworth Tanner to speak to the media.

The Administrator then gave the telephone to another staff at the facility, who refused to identify herself, to inform iNews that information on the incident needs to be sought from the Ministry of Social Protection. The female staff then hung up the phone on this news entity.

Additionally, iNews also contacted Tanner, who noted that he does not have the authority to speak to the media without permission from the Social Protection Ministry.

iNews has since contacted officials of Public Relations Department of the Ministry, who confirmed that the female Administrator will be in Georgetown later today to meet with Senior officials of the Ministry in order to verify exactly what occurred on the night in question.