The case of the taxi driver that was shot at Zeelugt, East Bank Essequibo remains unsolved but investigators in ‘D’ Division are working on clues that can lead to the identity of the main attacker.
Ramesh Persaud, 20, of Parika Backdam sustained two bullet wounds to his ear and the back of his head after 9 pm on Saturday.
He was rushed to the Leonora Cottage Hospital before being transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) where he is said to be recovering. His jaw was still swollen.
Robbery did not seem to be the motive of the shooting as the man’s cash and the gold jewellery he was wearing was still intact.
He was at the Parika junction when a man, who appeared to be in his early 20s approached and hired him to go to the new housing scheme at Zeelugt.
The man, who was dressed in a brown three-quarter pants, grey t-shirt and a pair of slippers had his cap pulled down in front of his face.
He entered the front seat and then asked Persaud to pick up another passenger at a Chinese restaurant nearby.
Persaud had informed his older brother Roland who was there, that he was going on the job. Roland was shocked when his brother called him around 9.40 pm telling him that he had been shot.
The shooting occurred at the Zeelugt scheme while Persaud was dropping off the passengers. He had turned back the car in the scheme after the ‘passengers’ told him they wanted the first street.
When he stopped they asked him the fare and he responded $1,500, but instead of paying the one in the front seat fired a shot to the back of his head.
The wound started to bleed and Ramesh slouched on the steering wheel and pretended to be dead. He heard when one of the men said “make sure he dead” and another shot was fired at his left ear.
A few minutes later when he felt safe, he called his brother to let him know what happened and said he was trying to drive to the hospital.
He was at the Boraserie Bridge when he called Roland again and told him he was “seeing dark.”
Roland told him to “stop the car” and that he was going there to meet him.
He stopped in the middle of the road and activated his hazard lights.
Some persons in a minibus stopped to render assistance until Roland arrived to take him to the hospital. After he was treated, a police vehicle drove him to the GPH, accompanied by Roland and his mother, Amelia.
One of the shots exited, but the other one is lodged in his body and doctors are unable to perform surgery to remove it. His mother told this newspaper that she was vending her produce at the Parika market when she spoke to her son just before 9 pm.
She said around 9.45 pm he called and told her he had been shot. By the time she got to the scene he was already taken to the hospital.
The family had purchased the AT 212 Carina motorcar PLL 821 three weeks ago and Persaud started working it immediately. He would normally work up to 10 pm.
