A father of two succumbed at the Georgetown Public Hospital yesterday after being shot during an armed robbery at Herstelling, East Bank Demerara, in the wee hours of the morning.
Ameer Abdool Subrati, 44, of Lot 21 Back Street, Peters Hall, East Bank Demerara, who was a driver with the Demerara Harbour Bridge Corporation, was fatally shot after he put up a struggle with one of the two gunmen who carried out the attack. Police have since arrested a 24-year-old man, who is a tenant in the bottom flat of the house
Police spokesman Jairam Ramlakhan, in a statement on the attack, said it was committed on an overseas-based Guyanese couple, Abid Subrati and Amika Appiah, during the wee hours of yesterday morning.
Ameer, the statement said, “put up a struggle with one of the gunmen and was shot in his neck, after which the men escaped.” However, the grieving family yesterday said the man was shot while gunshots were being wildly fired during the robbery.
He was rushed to the Diamond Diagnostic Hospital and was later transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where he underwent surgery and succumbed at around 12.30 yesterday afternoon.
Suzette Dunbar, a cousin of Appiah, said the attack occurred around 2am as the overseas-based couple was preparing to take a shower. “Amika was about to enter the bathroom downstairs but before she could have open the door a bandit came out and pointed the gun to her head and she screamed,” Dunbar said.
The victims believe the bandits entered the yard by scaling the fence at the back of the yard and then hiding in the washroom, which is located outside of the house.
Dunbar added that after her cousin screamed, four men, who were masked and dressed in black, exited the toilet and launched their attack. At this point, Abid responded to his wife’s alarm but refrained from doing anything after one of the bandits instructed his accomplice to shoot him. “He was inside the house and when he came to see why she screamed, he saw one of the bandits over her. She was lying on the ground. When they see him, one of the bandits was saying, ‘shoot him, shoot him,’ but the one didn’t,” the cousin explained.
Stabroek News was further told that the bandits, after placing the couple to lie on the ground, made their way into the house.
After hearing the commotion, Ameer, who was inside his car about to take two cousins home, returned to the yard and he was shot in his neck when the bandits opened fire.
At the house yesterday, Stabroek News overserved several bloodstains on the fence and in the compound.
Dunbar told Stabroek News six shots were fired by the gunmen before they began to ransack the house and found a white bag containing US$7,000, which was to be used for a wedding over the weekend and a family reunion that was to be held last night, $200,000 Guyana currency and a quantity of gold jewellery. The bag also contained documents, such as the couple’s green cards and passports.
After collecting the bag, the bandits escaped. As a result, the victims believe the robbery was well planned. Additionally, Dunbar said they believe the man who is in police custody along with his wife and brother-in-law played a part in orchestrating the robbery. Abid was also able to identify one of the alleged bandits as the brother-in-law of the man in custody.
Dunbar also pointed out that when police returned to the scene yesterday, the tenant was found hiding in a neighbour’s yard. She noted too that they later found out that during the robbery the man was in his apartment but told investigators he didn’t hear any gunshots or commotion. Further, it was stated that the man’s wife earlier in the day packed a suitcase and moved out of the house.