Rawle Vieira, the driver who ran over now deceased businessman Mahendra Persaud during a robbery last week, was yesterday charged with his murder.
Persaud, called ‘Amar,’ of Good Success, Wakenaam, was shot in the neck last Tuesday during the failed bid by two men to relieve him of $700,000 in cash outside a city store.
While the men were confronted and chased off, Persaud, who fell on the road, was run over by Vieira, who subsequently rushed him to the hospital.
Vieira appeared before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan in Georgetown, where he was read a charge which stated that on April 19, at Georgetown, during a robbery, he murdered Persaud.
He was not required to plead and was remanded to prison until May 16, when the matter will be called before Magistrate Fabayo Azore.
According to police sources, after reviewing surveillance footage from nearby CCTV cameras, investigators were able to apprehend Vieira, who had allegedly been following Persaud, along with the bandits who were on a motorcycle.
Stabroek News understands that Persaud was followed from the East Bank of Demerara.
The police, in a statement on the murder, had said that Persaud was with his driver in a vehicle at Alexander and Regent streets, about to conduct a business transaction at Torginol Paints, when he was attacked by a man armed with a gun. The man grabbed at a bag with money that Persaud had in his possession as he exited the vehicle.
Police further stated that Persaud resisted the man’s attempt to steal his bag, resulting in a struggle during which he was shot to his neck. The police added that Persaud subsequently fell on the road and was run over by a vehicle. He was later taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where he succumbed.
A second person was also arrested as he was found attempting to change the licence plate on the vehicle that ran over Persaud after the robbery.
