Shawn Thom, the man who was shot during a confrontation with police after he was suspected of being a part of gang that trailed travellers from the airport and robbed them, was yesterday charged with discharging a loaded firearm at an off-duty officer.
The allegation against Thom stated that on October 7 in Kitty, he unlawfully and maliciously discharged a loaded firearm at Prem Narine with the intent to maim, disfigure or cause him actual bodily harm.
It was also alleged that on the same day, Thom had in his possession a .38 revolver and 3 matching rounds of ammunition without being the holder of a firearm licence.
The 37-year-old pleaded not guilty to all three charges and was remanded to prison until his next court appearance on October 28.
Thom, who claims to be a vendor at the East La Penitence Market and part-time taxi driver, was shot once to his foot by police ranks who confronted the occupants of a vehicle along Barr Street, Kitty after an off-duty rank, who had picked up his relatives from the airport, reported his suspicion that he was being followed.
According to a police press release, while Thom’s accomplices managed to escape, the vehicle in which the men were travelling was seized and an unlicensed .38 revolver with three live rounds and two spent shells were recovered.
Meanwhile, Thom had related that he was shot in the right knee by a man who identified himself as a police constable. However, he maintained that he has never been involved in any robbery, despite what police say. Thom explained that he had picked up two men from the East La Penitence Market and was proceeding to the seawalls when they made a stop at Barr Street, Kitty to make change for a $5,000 bill.
“While I stand up there, I saw a tinted car coming towards me. All I hear somebody say, ‘Oye, y’all come,’” [then] all four doors of the vehicle open [and] they start to fire shots towards us and I start to run because the amount of shots that were fired I couldn’t go towards them,” he said, while noting that he ran towards the police station but the men followed him in the vehicle and eventually caught up with him. “How they behave is like they come with the intention to kill somebody, that is why when I hear all them shots fired I run right away. But they think I must did wan’ get away from them,” he added.
“I tell them I is a taxi driver don’t shoot me and they drag me, put a gun to my right knee and shoot and I couldn’t move anymore after that,” he further alleged
Thom expressed his belief that he is being framed by the police since he was recently freed of a murder charge.
“I don’t be involve in robberies. Since I was free of that murder, I don’t even go nowhere and hang out just to avoid problems,” Thom stated.
Orin David, called ‘Plait Hair,’ and Thom were charged with the murder of Lakeram Bishundial who was fatally shot during a robbery at Hope, East Coast Demerara, on August 21, 2010. Thom was freed earlier this year after a judge upheld a no-case submission made on his behalf at his trial. David was later freed as well.
