An alleged goat thief who was nursing a gunshot wound under police guard at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) Male Surgical Ward, escaped yesterday.
According to reports, Rawle Braithwaite escaped sometime after lunch yesterday by jumping through the second-storey window of the ward to the hospital grounds and then running up to Lamaha and East streets, where he disappeared among the traffic.
Stabroek News had previously reported that 19-year-old Braithwaite was shot to his buttocks on Wednesday after he became embroiled in an argument with another man over a young lady.
The police in a statement had said that about 05:30 hrs on Wednesday, the police responded to a report of suspected larceny of goats. On arrival at the Helena Number 2 Public Road, Mahaica, ECD, they had said three men and a woman were seen in a motor vehicle with two goats. The men and the woman made efforts to escape and were pursued by the police, during which one of the men allegedly attacked a rank with a pair of scissors and was shot to his buttocks.
Speaking to this newspaper yesterday, an eyewitness said she was in the vicinity of the hospital around 1.30 pm when she saw Braithwaite, clad in green short pants and white t-shirt escaping through a window from the ward with his hands gripping the wall.
She added that before she could have run upstairs and informed officials, the man jumped from the second floor of the building and ran quickly down to Lamaha and East streets before disappearing. It was unclear whether he had someone waiting on him or if he took public transportation.
Unconfirmed reports revealed that the police officer who was who duty at the time was sitting out of sight of Braithwaite’s bed and that the prisoner was not shackled.
Up to late yesterday afternoon Braithwaite was still on the run.
