Twenty-seven-year-old Winston Fraser, one of the two men allegedly shot by police either during or after a car chase on the morning of July 25th, is currently paralysed as a result of it and his doctors have advised that there is a 50% probability that he will die if surgery is attempted to remove the fragments of a warhead lodged near his spine.
Fraser is presently paralysed from his waist down and Chelauna Providence, communications officer for the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH), said he is still hospitalised at the institution.
Doctors have said it would be impossible for Fraser to ever walk again.
According to the man’s wife, Nikita Fraser, Fraser underwent surgery to remove fragments of a warhead in his stomach. She added that doctors have decided against performing another surgery to remove the fragments lodged next to the man’s spine.
Asked whether Fraser shared with her what transpired leading up to his shooting, the woman said that the events have left him so traumatised that he remains silent on them.
Nikita said she last saw her husband minutes after 10 on the night of July 24th, when he dropped her home. The woman said that it was not normal for Fraser to not return home so once the hours started going by, she said she called his phone numerous times but received no answer. It was not until 11am on Saturday that she received a call from her husband’s colleague, who told her to go to the hospital because there was a shootout with the police.
“Honestly, I feel like all of this is surreal. I’m just praying for a miracle”, said Nikita, who described the recent events that have occurred as a living nightmare.
On February 27th, she noted, she was involved in an accident where she was struck down by a car. The accident resulted in her suffering a dislocated shoulder, two broken ribs and trauma to her head. The accident saw her on bed rest for almost two months before she was able to return to her job.
Now with her husband being paralysed, Nikita said that she had to leave her job again to tend to him since she has no other relative able to help. Asked how she is able to get by financially, the woman said that she has been using the couple’s savings, which have almost finished. Not knowing where the next dollar will come from, Nikita said she has placed her faith in God that he will provide for her family, including the man’s grandmother, who lives with them.
Cecil Sampat, another of the occupants of the car that was being chased by the police, succumbed to his injuries last Wednesday. Sampat’s autopsy report showed that the man died as a result of sepsis caused by his gunshot injuries. The hospital’s communications’ officer also said that Sampat was a patient at the High Dependency Unit (HDU) since he arrived at the hospital. He was also on life support up until his death.
Fourth gunshot
The man’s sister, Erica Tullaram shared that Sampat was shot four times about his body and not three as the family was initially told. It was the autopsy which revealed the fourth gunshot wound. Relatives of the man have since said that they intend to fight for justice for Sampat.
This newspaper has been told that around 1.30am on Saturday, July 25th, three police officers who were on patrol observed a large gathering at the junction of Agricola Road and the East Bank Highway. It was reported that the officers approached the crowd and requested that they disperse. It was during this process, that the ranks saw a fight ensue between two males, one of whom whipped out a gun and pointed it in the direction of the man with whom he was fighting, and who was trying to make his escape in a car, bearing registration number PYY 4432. As a result of this a police chase followed.
The chase which began at the Agricola junction continued through South Ruimveldt, Cemetery Road, Hadfield Street and Vlissengen Road before coming to a stop at D’Urban Street and Mandela Avenue. The initial police patrol vehicle that was in the beginning of the chase was said to have experienced mechanical problems and lost sight of the car the men were in. However according to the report, a transmission was sent out and other police joined the chase. Police from the first patrol had said that when they arrived at D’Urban Street and Mandela Avenue, the four occupants of the car were lying on the road surrounded by other police patrol vehicles.
“What my brother told me is that when they dragged him out, they told him to get up and he was trying to tell them that he can’t move, he can’t feel from his waist down and they start kicking he up…but after they keep beating him, he said he start getting like you know, angry and he start behaving bad and that is when they shot him two more times,” Tullaram had shared with this newspaper in a previous interview regarding her brother.
The other two occupants of the car were 22-year-old Joshua Letlow of East Ruimveldt and 23-year-old Seon Greenidge.
Nikita told this newspaper that she learnt that 17 police officers were arrested as relayed to her by former regional commander for region 4 (A), Phillip Azore. The commander, she said, apologised for the shooting of her husband.
