-identified as ‘Beenie’
A Guyanese youth was shot dead in front of a Creole restaurant in Cayenne, French Guiana on Saturday in an apparent revenge killing. Three men are said to be in police custody.
Sources in the neighbouring territory say that investigators are reluctant to divulge the man’s identity or information surrounding his death. They have, however, said that the persons involved in the incident are known to them.
The dead lad, who is about 17 years old, is known as ‘Beenie’ and resides in Georgetown. From reports, the deceased is an illegal immigrant in the country and resided in a squatting settlement.
Stabroek News was told that four Guyanese men confronted the teen in front of the restaurant located on Avenue Voltaire between 9pm and 10pm, shooting him three times. They then fled the area, leaving the bleeding man lying on the roadway. He subsequently died.
Three men, who police say were accomplices to the murder, are said to be in police custody though the shooter is still at large. One of the suspects is an 18-year-old Guyanese miner, who was a friend of the murdered teen. He has reportedly explained to the police that it was a revenge killing after a recent fight over a woman.
Persons in the area where the incident occurred recalled hearing several gunshots.
`Beenie’ is the third Guyanese to be gunned down in French Guiana in the last five months under questionable circumstances.
On November 22, Joseph `Obrien’ Mc Aulay was shot dead in a small town called Matoury. Mc Aulay was the victim of a drive-by shooting and he died at the Cayenne Hospital from a gunshot wound to the chest. A pillion rider who was with Mc Aulay at the time ran away but he subsequently went to the police and a statement was given.
The incident apparently stemmed from an earlier incident during which Mc Aulay was punched. Two suspects were later held but it is unclear if charges were laid.
The man’s relatives, including his mother Jocelyn Daley, had told this newspaper that he died innocently and that he was merely trying to make peace after a fight broke out. It was one of Mc Aulay’s friends in Guyana who telephoned his mother shortly after he had been shot.
The dead man had left Guyana six years earlier for French Guiana seeking a better life.
Weeks earlier, 24-year-old Troy James was killed and police were convinced that it was his older brother who had committed the act. This newspaper had been told that the two had a falling out that sparked the fatal shooting. It is believed that the suspect returned to Guyana though Suriname shortly after the incident. To date he has not been apprehended.
Press officer Lieutenant-Colonel Laperle from the Central Gendarmerie had told Stabroek News’ source that James was killed in Remire-Montjoly, a town in the suburb of Cayenne. The officer added that the killing took place less than ten metres from a soccer field, where young players of a local team-–USL Montjoly–-were training. The coach, former international French goalkeeper Bernard Lama, was leading the training sessions and he was the one who contacted the police.
His mother, James’ mother, Rose Ann Garraway, called ‘Rosie,’ told members of the media that she warned the man repeatedly about going to the country. The man’s relatives had said that they were clueless as to what might have sparked the tragedy.
