Businessman shot in attempted robbery

Sep 03, 2008 News

Businessman Francis Jairam, who operates a grocery store on Saffon Street, Charlestown, is receiving treatment at the Georgetown Public Hospital for a gunshot wound he sustained during what appeared to be a robbery attempt, a few metres from his store, at around 08:40 hours yesterday.

One of Jairam’s employees consoles his daughter and grandson immediately after the shooting.

The businessman was shot in the left side shoulder while sitting in his car. His condition is listed as stable.
The perpetrators were two bandits on motorcycle, who immediately fled the scene after firing the single gunshot which pierced the front windscreen and dashboard of Jairam’s car before striking him.
At the time of the shooting, Jairam was in the company of his wife, who was holding their one-year-old grandson, and another grandson, aged four, who they were in the process of taking to school.
According to reports, Jairam had just left his store when the men who appeared to be monitoring his movements pulled up alongside his car as he tried to avoid a horse drawn cart.
As the businessman was forced to stop, one of the men got off the motorcycle and confronted his wife, whom he ordered out of the car.
However, the woman did not immediately comply and the bandit forcefully attempted to pull her from the vehicle.
The woman who was cradling the infant tried to resist and one of the bandits, sensing that time was against them, discharged a round at Jairam.
They then rode away along Howes Street, Charlestown.
By then a number of residents in the area were aroused by the gunshot and upon looking out saw the commotion.
“Imagine they go fuh pull dat lady out with de baby,” one eyewitness remarked.
Jairam was then assisted by another man who drove him to the Georgetown Public Hospital where he was immediately admitted.
“The motive was plain robbery,” Mrs. Jairam told this newspaper at the hospital while her husband was receiving treatment.
The businessman had been robbed on several occasions, including one in which his security guard was shot dead.
His wife related that this was the second attack for the year, the first occurring on February 7.
She believes that the perpetrators of yesterday’s attack were the same ones that carried out the attempted robbery in February.
“Is the same people, but the last time they did not have gun and they lashed the car with a sledge hammer,” Mrs. Jairam contended.
The police were summoned to the scene but by then the bandits had disappeared.
The businessman is well known in the Charlestown area for his charitable work with the less fortunate.