A South Ruimveldt Secondary School student was shot dead late Friday night when a hunting trip at Adventure, Soesdyke/Linden Highway went horribly wrong and up to press time last night, his father was one of two men in police custody.
Dead is 11-year-old Justin Nobrega of Lot 69 Adelaide Street, Charlestown, Georgetown who sustained a wound to the back and another to his side. He died in his father’s arms before he could receive medical attention.
Police said in a press release they are investigating the circumstances surrounding the child’s death, which occurred around 23:10 hrs.
“Initial reports indicate that Justin Nobrega was accidentally shot while in the company of his father and another man, who is a licensed firearm holder, who were hunting at the time,” the release said adding that the two men are in police custody assisting with the investigations.
Relatives travelled to Linden yesterday to view the body and to give the father, Edmond called “Eddie” their support.
When Stabroek News visited the Charlestown home last night many had gathered and the boy’s mother, Michelle, was too distraught to speak.
Nobrega’s brother Ricky Kissoon explained that his father would often travel to the highway to hunt for wild meat. This is a tradition that has been around for as long as he could remember, he told this newspaper.
He said the hunting expeditions occur on weekends and his father would leave on Friday nights and return as late as one o’clock the following morning.
Hunting, he explained, was his father’s favourite past time. He said his father is a brush cutter operator by profession. The wild meat, he added, forms part of their diet.
Ricky, who teaches at St Cuthbert’s Mission, was told of the tragedy by an uncle around 01:30 hrs and the suddenness came as a shock, “but I had my signs. I didn’t pay much attention to them”.
He said he travelled home yesterday morning. The grief-stricken young man said that from his understanding, his father, brother and others went hunting. He was unable to say how many persons were on the trip.
“This was a usual weekend trip for dad and sometimes the family,” he stressed noting that when he was younger he too went on several trips, but he didn’t like hunting much.
He told Stabroek News that he had so far gathered that during the trip an animal suspected to be a deer was fired at but “it wasn’t hit properly”. As a result the hunters give chase after the wounded animal on foot.
Stabroek News was told that Justin got out of the vehicle and was instructed by his father to go back. “He went but as they went to look for the animal that crawled away Justin came out of the vehicle [again],” he said recounting what had been relayed to him.
The child apparently stood on an elevation on the ground, perhaps in an attempt to get a better view of what was transpiring. Kissoon explained that the site where the incident occurred was in a C shape. The hunters were at one end with the vehicle and the child between the two ends of the C shape.
He said he and relatives visited the scene yesterday and were able to piece together what might have happened. He explained that the child ventured a short distance away from the vehicle and the hunters fired in that direction after the fleeing animal totally unaware that the child was there.
“Two pellets stray away through the leaves and the bushes and end up hitting him about 200 yards away,” he noted adding that “they had no sight of him because the bush was blocking them.”
He said he was unable to speak to his father but according to his mother, he had explained that when the child was shot he started to scream and was able to tell them what had happened. His father reportedly said that by the time he could have reached the child he was already on the ground.
He said the wounded deer was left behind and the child was rushed out of the area to the nearest hospital at Linden, but he died on the way.
The young man said his brother was very adventurous and as such looked forward to the hunting trips and other outdoor expeditions. “It was kind of fun for him. He got used to it,” he said.
“I don’t know if he [their father] ketch he self but ah mean your son dying in your hands…,” he said, adding that the two were very close.
Besides his parents, Justin leaves to mourn three older siblings and many relatives and friends.
