The fear escalated with the shooting of a man during an apparent foiled robbery attempt on Sunday night and has prompted calls for the immediate installation of street lights, police patrols and the locking of the cemetery entrance after 6 pm.
The injured man, Dexter McDonald, 33, of Norton Street, Lodge, was up to last evening a patient of the Intensive Care Unit of the Georgetown Hospital and his condition was listed as serious.
In a press release, the police force said that it is investigating the circumstances surrounding the shooting of McDonald, who was found by a relative in Princes Street, Wortmanville with a bullet wound to his abdomen around 9.40 pm. Yesterday, at the hospital, the man’s aunt said that she did not know much about what had transpired but from what she has been able to gather, McDonald was not the target of the robbery. The real targets were said to be two persons who were in a vehicle parked nearby.
She said that the injured man underwent four hours of surgery on Sunday night and the bullet was successfully removed. None of the perpetrators have been caught. Meanwhile, when Stabroek News visited the area, between Louisa Row and Hardina Street where the shooting occurred, residents recalled hearing a squib-like sound and when they looked out they saw McDonald lying on the roadway, not far from the entrance to the Special Constabulary.
Stabroek News was told that minutes before the incident, McDonald was speaking with a man on a nearby bridge and when the robbers, who were on bicycles, pounced on the occupants of the car, he may have gone to their rescue and was shot in the process. From all accounts, the men got nothing and fled through the cemetery. One resident recalled that as they made their escape one of them fell off his bicycle. The newspaper was told that after the incident members of the Special Constabulary made attempts to pursue the men and subsequently took the injured man to the hospital.
Yesterday residents were very concerned over this latest incident and were even more fearful of walking in the area after dark.
They said that the attacks, which were occurring sporadically over the last year or so, have escalated over the last two months. The bandits also targeted members of the Special Constabulary as they made their way to work. This was confirmed by Assistant Commissioner of Police Welton Trotz, who said that one female rank was relieved of her bag containing valuables about two months ago as she was making her way to work around 9.30 pm. He said the bag was found the following day under an unoccupied house in West Ruimveldt.
While there may be other incidents, he said, they have not been reported.
Residents said yesterday that they are scared, especially since the area is very dark at night. They said that the light near the cemetery gate operates like “fairy lights” at night. One man said that at one time there were lights through the cemetery. He stated that the bandits are so clever, they walk behind you and once you are alone they attack and they escape using the cemetery.
The man, who has been calling Princes Street his home for the last 55 years, expressed concern that the gates to the cemetery are no longer locked at nights, giving criminals an easy escape route. He said that the road needs to be fixed and the bushes on the parapets and in the trenches need to be cut down. He also noted the urgent need for street lights. “People in here will get murder if they don’t tackle this now,” he said, adding that for last week alone there were three robberies.
