Police in a press release identified the injured persons as Jason Montgomery, a 36-year-old Australian and 39-year-old Ronald Dhanraj.
Montgomery was shot in his abdomen and is currently in the High Dependency Unit (HDU) of the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH). Dhanraj was shot under his left arm and is currently a patient in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Woodlands Hospital. Both men were patrons of the bar at the time.
During the robbery on Friday night, 36-year-old Kulmattie Singh of Cummings Lodge, East Coast Demerara, was shot in the head and killed. She was employed as a waitress at the establishment.
Stabroek News had reported in yesterday’s edition that three persons had been injured in the attack, including a waitress who had allegedly been beaten about the head by the bandits and had been treated at a private hospital. However, this report was denied by the proprietors of the bar and no mention was made of this person in the police release.
Police said the incident occurred at about 9.10 pm on Friday. According to the police, “three men, two of whom were armed with handguns, attacked and robbed patrons and staff of Safraz’s Bar and Restaurant at Lamaha and David streets.
“Initial investigations revealed that the three men entered the nightspot and held up the patrons and staff,” police said. “They then proceeded to rob several persons of their jewellery, cash and cell phones in addition to the proceeds of the day’s sales from the bartender.”
During the robbery Singh was killed and Montgomery and Dhanraj wounded. The police said the three assailants escaped in a waiting Toyota Carina AT 192 car.
When this newspaper visited the establishment yesterday afternoon, the proprietors were still visibly shaken.
The owners, a married couple, although initially reluctant to speak, briefly recounted what happened to this newspaper after requesting that their names not be published. They said that since the business was established about a year ago, this was the first time a robbery has been committed on the premises. They have, however, vowed to remain in business since it is their livelihood and are moving to improve security at the location.
Heroism
Recounting the incident, the proprietors said they were eating dinner when three men entered the premises and started the surprise attack on the patrons. They immediately started to demand that persons hand over their jewellery and other valuables, which the customers did. According to the proprietors, fortune seemed to be with the gunmen because moments after the men entered the location a police car sped past the premises.
But both proprietors acknowledged that it would have been impossible for the passing policemen to know what was going on inside the bar.
They said that while the gunmen were on the premises, they and some of the patrons managed to run to safety at the back of the building.
They were adamant that the gunmen were heartless to shoot Kulmattie Singh, who they said was manning the bar when the attack started. The men had already taken the day’s sales from Singh, this newspaper understands.
“Dem deh done get what dey deh want, why deh had to shoot she,” one of the proprietors remarked sadly. According to them, Singh was trying to assist patrons to safety in a room at the back of the bar when she was shot by one of the gunmen.
The proprietors have already agreed to fund the expenses associated with Singh’s funeral. Singh had been working at the bar for approximately five months.
It was such acts of heroism that characterized Singh, a relative said yesterday. “If she see someone treated badly she’ll stand up for them,” her cousin Debbie said.
Yet in spite of these traits, she was also a “very quiet, hard-working family person,” Debbie added. “She was an open-hearted mother.” Singh was a single parent mother of four – the eldest being 18, while the youngest is just over a year. Her children were too grieved to speak with this newspaper.
Meanwhile, Montgomery, who was shot in the abdomen, underwent surgery yesterday and was recovering in the High Dependency Unit (HDU) of the GPH.
His business associate, Mark Xavier, said the bullet had entered an inch below Montgomery’s heart, perforating his abdominal cavity and grazing his bowel.
Xavier told this newspaper yesterday evening that the surgery had been successful and Montgomery had spoken to his family and the Australian High Commissioner.
Montgomery was said to be “in good spirits”.
According to Xavier, Montgomery, who has been in Guyana for almost three weeks, frequented Safraz’s bar since it was in walking distance from where he was staying in Subryanville. On Friday night he had gone to the bar alone.
Xavier described Montgomery as a very friendly and jovial guy.
He said Montgomery and his partner were in the country doing marketing analysis and feasibility studies for their product, a degreaser cleaning agent, which Xavier said would see him as the sole distributor of the product.
