Two members of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) were yesterday charged with the murder of Cecil Sampat, who they allegedly shot after a recent car chase.
Corporal Godwin Thomas and Constable Troy Munroe yesterday appeared before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan in a Georgetown court, where they were not required to answer the charge against them.
They were remanded to prison until August 21st, 2020.
Sampat, 39, a John Fernandes Limited worker, died as a results of sepsis, caused by gunshot injuries after he and another man were shot by law enforcers sometime on July 25.
Another man, Winston Fraser, 27, a friend of Sampat, was also shot and injured on the night of the shooting. He remains hospitalised at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) with a warhead lodged in his spine. He is said to be paralysed as a result.
Police have said that they pursued the vehicle with the men and two others although when the men although how the men were shot has not been made clear.
Erica Tullaram, a sister of the deceased, told this newspaper that her brother was shot four times about his body and not three as the family was initially told, and as a result, he suffered damage to his intestines, kidneys, and lungs as a result of his wounds.
Commissioner of Police (ag) Nigel Hoppie, previously told Stabroek News that the case is currently under investigation and the police were working to bring the investigation to a close.
According to a police report, law enforcers claimed that around 1.30am on Saturday, July 25, three police officers on patrol observed a large gathering at the junction of Agricola Road and the East Bank Highway. The officers approached the crowd and requested that they disperse. It was during the dispersal that police witnessed a fight between two men, one of whom allegedly whipped out a gun and pointed it in the direction of the other while trying to make his escape in a car bearing registration number PYY 4432.
As a result, the police say one of the ranks sent out a transmission over the force network while they chased after the vehicle. The chase ended at D’Urban Street and Mandela Avenue. The report did not state when or how the men were shot but that two men who were injured were escorted to the hospital by the police. The two injured men nursing gunshot wounds to their backs, were identified as Sampat and Fraser. It was noted that no gun was found in the car but there was one live round of ammunition.
The other two occupants of the car were 22-year-old Joshua Letlow, of East Ruimveldt, and 23-year-old Seon Greenidge. According to the incident report, Letlow and Greenidge, who were interviewed, stated that they were in the vicinity of Houston when they observed a patrol car following them, which led Fraser to drive faster. After a chase through several areas in Georgetown, the men noted that they saw the same white police patrol car along with two other police pickups pursuing them. They men recounted that soon after they heard loud explosions similar to that of gunshots behind them after which Fraser and Sampat said they were both hit. Fraser drove the car for a little bit more before coming to a stop at Mandela Avenue and D’Urban Street.
