Latest update December 21st, 2024 1:52 AM
Land of Canaan shooting…Victims appeal to Opposition leader for help in securing justice
The worried relatives of the victims of the Land of Canaan shoot-out, appeared before the doors of
Welton Edwards
the Office of the Leader of the Opposition, David Granger, on Friday to appeal to him for any assistance he could render in helping them to secure justice.
The victims, 50-year-old Welton Edwards and his nephew Sherwin Hamilton, 40, were shot by a well-known businessman of Land of Canaan earlier this week. The entrepreneur, Derek Jaisingh, has since explained that his shooting of the two was based on the suspicion that they were bandits out to rob him.
Edwards and Hamilton in pleading with Granger for his help, held out that they are not thieves.
The matter is currently engaging the attention of the courts. The shooter, who is a licensed firearm holder, is charged with two counts of attempted murder. He was however released from the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court on $800,000 bail for both charges.
The wounded men were hospitalized after the shooting but were later discharged from the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, with doctors allegedly informing relatives that Edwards is paralyzed and has “a 50-50” chance of survival.
The news of Edwards’ condition has left relatives “with a feeling of hopelessness” and as such, they are hoping that the matter can be hastened in light of the circumstances, to ensure justice is served.
Hamilton told the Opposition Leader that he and his uncle are well known to Jaisingh who is a miner and owns the Savannah Restaurant on the Land of Canaan Public Road, where the shooting took place.
He insisted that as such, it was simply absurd for the neighbourhood acquaintance to even think that they were bandits.
In relating his side of the story to Granger, Hamilton said that upon his return from a family trip, he heard a commotion and noticed that the businessman was in an argument with one of his (Hamilton’s) relatives.
In an attempt to try to appease the entrepreneur, Hamilton said that Jaisingh then struck him twice across his face with his gun. After informing his uncle of what had occurred, Edwards approached the proprietor but he said he was in no mood to “talk things out.”
Hamilton said that Jaisingh started shooting and both men suffered severe injuries.
In fact, Edwards claimed that he still has a bullet lodged in his spine and doctors discharged him, informing that he has to make a decision soon with regard to a “risky” surgery.
Edwards’ daughter Felicia said, “It is very hard for my father right now. He can’t do nothing on his own. Anytime he wants to urinate he got to get five to six people helping he. It is hard and I can’t imagine losing my father to this. That businessman was just ignorant. I don’t believe that we will get justice. That is why we come to the Opposition leader, we believe in him. We just hoping that he can do something, anything at all to help us in getting justice.”
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