10 years of pain - Man injured in 2010 Tivoli Incursion wants more money for compensation
George Harriot, 65, has been living in anguish for 10 years. He was living in Denham Town during the time of the 2010 Tivoli Incursion, when he was shot, severely damaging his elbow.
Doctors then removed a piece of his hip to add to the elbow to save his arm.
"I was inside my yard when I got the shot. Someone was using the bathroom and it was an early morning, so I went outside to take a leak. Just as I finished and turned around, I got the shot. Shots were firing from about 12 o' clock Monday afternoon and I got shot the Tuesday morning," he told THE STAR.
Harriot, who had been hospitalised for 20 days, underwent surgery on the arm.
"They (doctors) cut off piece of my hip to make back the elbow of my hand. So now, the pain is not just the hand again ... it's the both of them. I've been taking pain killers every day ... the time hot now, so the screws dem burn me," he said, noting that he currently has 15 screws in his arm. "I have the doctor's certificate and 82 per cent of the bone from the elbow come down to the fingers mashed up. It's like it split in two and they just pinned it. And I have to live with the pin for the rest of my life."
Met with disappointment
Harriot thought he would get satisfactory compensation, and even planned to use the money to do the necessary follow-up surgery that would have allowed him to straighten his fingers.
But he was met with disappointment. After testifying at the commission of enquiry into the incursion, Harriot asked for $300,000 in compensation but only received $60,000.
"That wasn't enough. The iron that I bought for my hand, it was almost $60,000. The chairman (of the enquiry) told me on December 11, 2014, that I should be compensated. So why did they reverse it? I would like to know why," he said.
Though the hand is still somewhat functional, there is a throbbing pain every time he exerts too much energy.
"Sometimes I cannot go on the road because of the pain. I have been working the hand because I don't get any compensation and I have bills to pay. I have to work it. It's a lot of pain up to this day 10 years later," he said.
Arlene Harrison Henry, public defender, confirmed to THE STAR that Harriot received $60,000 for compensation, despite his $300,000 request.
"It is not everybody who claimed to have been injured or claimed property loss or damage received compensation. There is a legal standard that one would've had to reach," she said.
Henry said by 2016, several residents came forward with new claims.
"Several new claims came in ... none of which could have been investigated in time for the compensation committee," she said.