As the police work towards wrapping up their investigation of last Friday’s armed attack on a Tuschen Housing Scheme Chinese restaurateur, which left one suspect dead, they were granted approval by a court yesterday to further detain his three alleged accomplices who were taken into custody.
This is according to Commander of Region Three Simon McBean, who confirmed that the three persons remained in custody yesterday.
McBean said the police were up to yesterday afternoon trying to locate the fourth suspect, a woman whose identity is known.
“We are currently in the process of putting all the evidence together…we will be seeking legal advice soon,” McBean noted.
He said that it is likely that all three suspects in custody will be charged in connection with the crime.
The robbery occurred around 9 pm and was allegedly committed by a gang of five, which included a member of the Joint Services.
The three suspects in custody are Police Constable Jonathan Harry, who is attached to Special Branch, Eve Leary; Akande Ross, 20, of Herstelling, East Bank Demerara; and Shaquille Wilbury of Buxton, East Coast Demerara.
While the fourth suspect remains on the lam, the fifth, Mark Prince was shot and killed during the attack by a licensed firearm holder. The police, in a statement, had identified the victims of the attack as Guang Hong Wang, a female Chinese national , 43, who is the proprietor of 5 Star Restaurant, which is located in front of her apartment, and Navindra Lakahalall, 37, of Zeelugt New Housing, Scheme, East Bank Essequibo, a customer, who was also robbed.
Police have determined that two of the robbers posed as customers at the restaurant.
One of the male suspects and the woman, police had said, entered the restaurant and purchased two beers, which they drank, and they then ordered a case of beer.
Guang was in the process of delivering same to them when the man whipped out a gun and proceeded to rob her and Lakahalall, while the three other suspects entered the premises.
Lakahalall was tied up, while Guang was taken to her apartment, which is located near the restaurant.
According to the police, the licensed firearm holder, who lives nearby, heard the commotion and immediately went to investigate and was attacked by the robber with the gun and another, believed to be Prince, who was armed with a cutlass.
As a result, the police said he was forced to discharge several rounds in their direction, after which four suspects fled the premises in a car, PTT 8606, which was parked nearby, leaving the wounded Prince at the scene.
The police were summoned and the getaway vehicle was intercepted at a road block on the public road in front of the Den Amstel Police Station. Three men, including Wilbury, who was in the back seat and had what appeared to be a gunshot wound, were in the vehicle.
Wilbury remains hospitalised.
An unlicensed pistol with an empty magazine was found in the vehicle and a sum of cash and cellular phones were found on the persons of the suspects.
Police added that Prince, who was found motionless with a suspected gunshot wound to the neck, had a cutlass in his right hand and a haversack on his back. A search of his person revealed the sum of $130,000.
