Cuban man robbed at Nyangabgwe Hospital

ISAAC PINIELO
Correspondent | Tuesday November 16, 2010 00:00

According to Assistant Superintendent Gagoitsewe Seisa, the incident occurred last Friday afternoon at around 4:30pm.

He said the man had gone to visit his wife at the hospital and as he went to the toilet, he was attacked by an unidentified man who hit him several times on the head with a bag suspected to have been filled with stones.

Detective Seisa said the assailant then dragged the man into the toilet where he stole his cellphone, US$2500 cash plus P800 and some travel documents.

'It is unfortunate that we have not arrested anyone in connection with the incident because the victim could not identify his assailant. But our investigations are still ongoing,' he stated.

He appealed to people to desist from going to isolated places unaccompanied, adding that people should always be vigilant wherever they go. Seisa also pointed out that the security at the hospital needs to be improved in such a way that there are some officers who patrol the whole premises instead of just manning the gates.

'The number of security officers at the hospital should be increased so that incidents such as this do not happen again,' he said.

Confirming the incident, Nyangabgwe Referral Hospital public relations officer (PRO), Caiphus Gabana said the attack on the Cuban man is proof that security at the hospital is inefficient.

'If people can be attacked inside the hospital it shows that something has to be done about the security here,' Gabana said. Some employees at the hospital who now fear for their lives and that of patients have expressed concern at the occurrence of criminal activities inside the hospital.

This latest incident comes hardly a month after a prison warder, who was accompanying a prisoner to the hospital was attacked and seriously injured by another man who was attempting to aid the prisoner escape from custody.

However, both the men were immediately apprehended by the security guards before they could leave the hospital. This was after the hospital management alerted the security guards at the gates.