Latest update November 29th, 2024 1:00 AM
18-year-old’s shooting sparks protest
…relatives insist he was collecting scrap iron
Family members of Hemchand Gopaul, the 18-year-old youth of 3 D Rose Hall Town, Corentyne, Berbice, who was fatally shot by police, and residents from the area yesterday staged a picketing exercise to protest what they call police murder.
Two men who were with him and who hid in a trench are now in police custody.
The protest which lasted for over an hour began at the Port Mourant Market and ended at Rose Hall Town with the protesters bearing placards calling for justice, they vow to continue their action until they receive justice.
some of the protestors yesterday following the death of Hemchand Gopaul who is accused of being involved in the Hampshire robbery.
Gopaul died after sustaining gunshot wounds to the neck and other parts of the body. Police had said he was one of three men who robbed a family at Hampshire Village, Corentyne. However, the family is vehemently denying these claims.
The dead man’s distraught father, Vishnu Gopaul, said that his son is innocent and was a victim of police excesses. He then told a story of police harassment which began over a year ago after his son was implicated for a misdemeanor and was charged with attempting to commit a felony.
His son cannot use his left hand after he was chopped and had to be hospitalised. He said that the police took $40,000 from him to drop the story and subsequently demanded more money which he could not have afforded. His son was eventually charged and placed on $100,000 bail.
Relating the incident of Thursday night and Friday morning, the man said that his son had left home around 19:00 hrs and was out with two other friends digging for “scrap metal” from an old factory at Port Mourant. They would sell the scrap metal to a dealer right in Port Mourant.
He had returned home around 03:00hrs to collect a donkey cart to load the scraps. The man said that he was up early to kill one of his animals to sell when he heard the first set of gunshots around 4am. This was followed by subsequent volleys which ended around 05.30hrs.
He said that subsequently, a number of police officers came to his house and proceeded to ransack the building. They never told him what they were looking for and only asked for his son. He was not aware that his son had died. It was not until he ventured out in the village in search of Hemchand that he was told by some villagers that his son was shot dead and was lying on a dam.
Gopaul said that he was not allowed to go near to or see his son’s body because the police had blocked the dam on both sides. When he enquired about his son he was told by police to ‘go look in a near by garden’.
His son was covered with a branch and left on the dam and it was only when they were lifting him in the hearse that he recognised him by his clothing. The dead man’s family is accusing the police of using excessive force and cold blooded murder and they have vowed to seek justice at all cost. He had named a few police officers that constantly harass the family and took money from them.
Gopaul and two other men were accused of a robbery committed at Hampshire village around 01:30 hrs Friday morning in which vendor Latchmini Narinesammy, 68, her two daughters, Maria Mootoo, 45, her sister Savitri Mootoo, 41, her son Angad Mootoo, 35, and her nine-year-old grandson were robbed by three masked men .
The men who were armed with guns and cutlasses broke a window and held up the family before beating and robbing them of a quantity of jewelry, $85,000 and three cell phones. The trio discharged several rounds before escaping. The family said the ordeal lasted for about 30 minutes. The bandits also broke and entered a nearby house, but not much was taken.
They were in hot pursuit of the three guys, the protesters said. They were innocent people who were picking up old iron from the old estate. “The police now questioning the boy who jumped into trench. They mistakenly shot and killed an innocent person.
Meanwhile, the families of both the two men who are in police custody and the dead man have secured the services of attorney-at-law Khemraj Ramjattan. Up to press time their lawyer had said that the police had promised to release the two men some time last evening following an identification parade.
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