A 28-year-old Guyana Chron-icle employee was shot late Thursday night allegedly by a Guyana Defence Force (GDF) corporal and is currently hospitalized at a city hospital.
Leon Joe of Haslington, East Coast Demerara said that two GDF personnel, whom he named, also relieved him of a gold band and $1.2M. He said that up to yesterday he had not reported the matter to the police or the GDF because he is hospitalized.
He stated that the three soldiers, who accosted him, were drunk at the time. The man said that they included a Staff Sergeant, a Major and a Corporal and they were not in uniform at the time.
GDF Chief of Staff, Commodore Gary Best, when contacted last evening, told Stabroek News that he had only just heard of the matter and was investigating. He said that he could make no further comment at the time.
Joe stated that his family had contacted a lawyer. Recounting the incident to this newspaper, he said that after receiving a call from the Staff Sergeant, he went to Cool Square on the Back Road. The man had told him to go to the location to discuss some issues. When he arrived there at about 10:30 pm on Thursday, he said, the Staff Sergeant and the Major were there and he was offered a Guinness. However, he recalled “someone ask me for an excuse and told me they put something in the Guinness”.
The man recounted that he got up and told the Staff Sergeant that he was going to return and began to walk away but the Staff Sergeant told his colleague that he (Joe) was not going to come back. He stated that as he was leaving, someone approached him and asked if he was Joe and when he affirmed this, the man said that he was taking him to the GDF. “So I said for what but he told me don’t ask him”.
According to Joe, the man, who he said was a Corporal, pushed him to the Back Road side and he pushed back and ran to the Front Road. He said that the man pulled out a gun and shouted that he was going to shoot him and he stopped. He said that he turned around and got into an unoccupied car and the officers came and dragged him out.
He stated that the Major and the Corporal placed him in their vehicle, an Ipsum, and drove away.
The Major was driving. Joe said that at this point, the Corporal stated that he were going to relieve him of his personal effects and took away the gold band and $1.2M that he said he had in an envelope. They reportedly said that they were taking him to the GDF compound but as they passed through Cemetery Road, he thought that they were taking him to the police and when they passed the Police Outpost at the Junction, he asked where they were taking him. He said that the Corporal responded “leh we take he to D’urban Backlands and leh we do he deh. Is lang I wan do he”.
Upon hearing this, the maintenance engineer recalled, he opened the car door and at this point he heard the gunshot and he jumped out of the moving vehicle. He said that he crossed a trench and managed to stop a taxi, and went to his mother’s home. The vehicle had not stopped when he jumped out, he noted. He had been shot in his right thigh. He was taken to the city hospital, shortly after midnight yesterday and underwent surgery to remove the bullet. He was unconscious for most of yesterday, he said.
Asked whether he had any problems with any of the men, Joe said that he had been “friendly” with the Staff Sergeant’s daughter and the man had threatened to shoot him. Joe said that he is an ex-soldier and left the army six years ago.
He said that he knew the three soldiers from the time that he was in the GDF. Asked what he was doing with the large sum of money, he said that this was to pay off debts that he had.
In addition to his gunshot wound, Joe sustained several bruises.
