Dereck Jaisingh, the licensed firearm holder who shot two men along the Land of Canaan Public Road early on Sunday morning, was yesterday charged with two counts of attempted murder and was released on $800,000 bail after his lawyer said he thought he was being threatened by the men.
Jaisingh, 32, of Land of Canaan, appeared before Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.
It was alleged that on November 2, at Land of Canaan, Jaisingh discharged a loaded firearm at Welton Edwards, 50, with intent to murder him. It is also alleged that on the same day, he discharged a loaded firearm at Sherwin Hamilton, 40, with intent to murder him.
Prosecutor Michael Grant said the both men were at their Old Road, Land of Canaan residence when they received information that one of their relatives was at the Public Road involved in an argument. As a result, they went to the scene and talked to Jaisingh, who Grant said started to shoot at them.
Grant, who said both men are well known to Jaisingh, noted that they are currently patients at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, where one is in a serious condition, while the other is stable.
Edwards was shot twice to his back, while Hamilton, who is his nephew, was shot six times to his lower body, including his left foot.
Grant objected to bail, citing the nature, gravity and prevalence of the offence and also the use of extreme violence.
Jaisingh was represented by attorney Manoj Narayan, who stated that his client is a miner and the proprietor of the Savannah Restaurant at the Land of Canaan Public Road, where the shooting occurred. In addition, he told the court that Jaisingh is a licensed holder of two firearms—a handgun and a shotgun.
Narayan told the court that Jaisingh believed he was under the threat of being attacked. He said the man felt he was about to be robbed and he used his firearm to defend himself.
From information gathered by the attorney, the court also learned that both Edwards and Hamilton have matters at the court and were charged before and an arrest warrant was issued for one of them.
The lawyer said the shooting occurred in front of Jaisingh’s home at 11:55 pm and not 12:30 as the police had recorded. He also said five men were going to confront Jaisingh after they heard about the incident instead of making a report to the police station. He said he was able to gather four statements from eyewitnesses who were on the scene.
He later applied for reasonable bail.
Bail was set at $400,000 for each of the two charges after the magistrate reviewed the statements given by the four eyewitnesses. Jaisingh was also ordered to lodge his passport with the investigating rank and report every two weeks on Fridays at the Timehri Police Station, starting from November 21. He is to report to court one at 12 on November 21.
