One of the survivors of Thursday’s deadly shooting at Port Mourant, in which two men were killed, has positively identified the shooter as the relative of a man beaten to death during a vigilante attack last year, according to Crime Chief Seelall Persaud, who says from all indications the attack was an act of revenge.
The motive for the attack, which left Seafield Layne and Krishnaraj Jagdeo called “Chris” dead and at least two other men in critical condition, was not initially clear but Persaud told Stabroek News yesterday that the shooter, who is a close male relative of the late Alfred Munroe, 45, called ‘Guana Man,’ had threatened to take revenge. This would have been after five men charged with Munroe’s murder were freed by Magistrate Rabindranauth Singh after a no-case submission by one of their
lawyers in the preliminary inquiry into the murder charge.
On May 9th last year, Munroe succumbed to a beating by persons after he was accused of being involved in a break and enter at Port Mourant, Corentyne, Berbice.
Persaud explained that Jagdeo was among those freed and from all indications the others were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The injured are Zameel Abrahim, 24, of Tain, Corentyne, David Harpaul, 37, of Rose Hall, Corentyne, and Clement Griffith, 48, of Port Mourant. Abrahim, whose condition was listed as critical, was transferred from the New Amsterdam Hospital to the George-town Public Hospital on Thursday, while Harpaul was transferred to the city hospital yesterday morning. Abrahim was in the Intensive Care Unit up to last evening, while Harpaul was said to be a patient in the High Dependency Unit.
A relative of Abrahim said yesterday that the wounded man claimed that he and others were placed by their attackers to lie on the ground and they were shot them at close range.
The one who fired was wearing a mask, a relative quoted him as saying, while the rest were not.
Up to press time last evening, Stabroek News was told that some persons were in custody.
The five men were attacked by men armed with shotguns as they were coming out of the Follow-up Backlands, Port Mourant.
Layne, of No.1 Public Road, Corentyne and Jagdeo, of Port Mourant, Corentyne were shot and killed, while the other three received injuries, police confirmed yesterday morning in an official statement on the shooting.
“The armed men discharged several rounds at the victims who had been working in a rice field in the backlands, after which they escaped,” police said, while noting that the attack was carried out by two men.
Griffith, of Ankerville, Port Mourant, remains a patient in a stable condition at the New Amsterdam Hospital. He received a shot in his right hand.
He told Stabroek News yesterday that after he and the others left the Follow-up Co-op around 3pm by boat, not long after two unmasked men came out and fired at them. “I did not look at them but I saw two men… They were on the dam and they called out to us and start shooting,” Griffith recounted.
According to him, it appeared as if the gunmen were hiding in the bushes. He said there was no exchange of words between the two parties. “All they did was shoot… the incident didn’t take long… about five minutes,” he said.
Griffith added that after the shooting, he called out to Harpaul and they started the boat and left. “We couldn’t a help nobody else because ‘Fat Boy’ [Harpaul] was bleeding and my hand was in [severe] pain… when we come out we go in the pickup and a man drive us out,” he added.
Asked if he had any idea why they were attacked, Griffith said he did not. “I don’t know… only a month I start working at the back there and I never hear of any problem or so. I recently moved to Berbice,” he explained.
Meanwhile, Stabroek News learnt a team of investigators returned to the crime scene during the course of yesterday.
