The father of Permaul Rampersaud, who was shot dead by an intoxicated cousin on Sunday night, is adamant that it was an accident and that there was no intention to harm his son.
Relatives of Rampersaud and the suspect were yesterday still trying to come to grips with the incident. The suspect who is the manager of a popular city business up to late yesterday afternoon was still in police custody and according to a police official upon completion of the investigation, a file will be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for advice.
Contacted yesterday Crime Chief Seelall Persaud said that the incident is being investigated as a homicide. Meanwhile a police source said that it is too early to determine whether the shooting was accidental or intentional.
A post-mortem examination will be performed on the 23-year-old GuySu-Co foreman today after which the results along with the police file will be sent to the DPP, this newspaper was told.
Police had arrested the other three occupants of the car. The driver was yesterday released on station bail.
When Stabroek News arrived at Rampersaud’s Agri-culture Road, Triumph home, relatives had gathered.
His father Jaigobin said “I feel is an accident cause we were living nice. We didn’t have no problem”. He ex-plained that the suspect who is about 40 years old is (the victim’s) cousin. “…he was under the influence and that might have been the reason why he decided to clear the gun then, the man further said.
Police had said in a press release that the suspect, who is a licensed firearm holder was “attempting to clear“ his firearm when two rounds were discharged resulting in Rampersaud being struck in the back and right arm. At the time of the incident he was sitting in the front passenger seat while the suspect was sitting at the back with a friend.
Several security experts yesterday explained that to “clear” a weapon means to take out the bullets so as to make it safe. According to one expert the weapon will go off if you are careless when clearing it.
Jaigobin added that the suspect’s wife has visited the home and is also devastated. He stressed that the two men were very close.
He recalled that when he came home on Sunday night, Rampersaud the elder of two children was taking a bath and sometime later he overheard him telling his mother that he was going to a wedding house in Mon Repos. He went there with his brother-in-law.
The man said that later the suspect met them at the Mon Repos location and together they left for another wedding house located at Annandale, further up the East Coast.
Jaigobin recalled that around 23:00 hours his friend who owns a taxi Service at Lusignan called and told him that he needed to go to the hospital immediately. The man said that he pressed the woman for information and she subsequently told him that there was an incident and Rampersaud was shot.
He said that by the time he arrived at the Georgetown Hospital, his son was already dead and staffers were preparing to take him over to the morgue.
Rampersaud who sustained gunshot wounds to the back and right arm was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.
