Latest update November 25th, 2024 1:00 AM
Dec 22, 2015 News
– say wounded shopkeeper’s daughters
Two daughters of a Non Pareil, East Coast Demerara shopkeeper who is hospitalized with a bullet wound
following a botched robbery have vowed that it is either their father shut up shop early or “no business at all.”
Jade Thomas said that she and her sister are not prepared to lose their father to banditry anytime soon.
This comes in the wake of last Sunday morning’s shooting that has left their father, 50-year-old Lebert Thomas in a critical condition at the Georgetown Public Hospital.
Thomas, who was attacked by a lone gunman, is expected to undergo another surgery today.
Doctors have given him a good chance of survival, although he suffered damage to some of his internal organs.
It was the second time that Thomas has been shot during a robbery. He was also stabbed on four other occasions, also during robbery and although, his business provides a living for him and his family, the incidents have taken a severe toll on his daughters.
“Me and my sister don’t want him selling late at night anymore. Is either he open early and close early or no more business,” Jade Thomas told this newspaper.
She said that her father was well enough to relate what happened early Sunday morning.
According to Jade, Thomas was in his yard which is situated behind his shop at the Melanie Damishana Cinema Road when a man approached him with gun in hand.
The man demanded cash and ordered Thomas to drop his car keys.
Thinking quickly, the shopkeeper dropped the bunch of keys, which also contained the keys to his shop, into a garbage bin that was nearby. The gunman then told him to lie on the ground but Thomas was not too eager to comply.
According to his daughter, he was thinking whether the gun in the bandit’s hand was real and if he should risk putting up a fight. He soon found out.
“He know if he lie down, the man would get the upper hand,” Jade Thomas stated.
She said that her father decided to challenge the gunman who wasted no time in opening fire, sending a bullet into the shopkeeper’s abdomen.
But when the gunman tried to shoot again, his gun malfunctioned and he decided to abort his mission.
The wounded Thomas at first thought about going after him but decided against such a move.
He instead called out to his mother who was inside the house.
On going outside his mother, Yvonne Isaacs, saw her son holding his shirt, telling her “I just got shot,” then he fell to the ground.
Kaieteur News was told that a passerby stopped to render assistance but he reportedly refused to put the bleeding man in his vehicle.
Thomas was eventually taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital in his own car.
“I’m so saddened and sick of the crime situation that is plaguing the country,” his fiancée, Jennifer Griffith, said.
“It is just heartbreaking and more needs to be done to fight these trigger happy robbers. We need more patrols on the East Coast.”
“He has been shot twice and stabbed a total of four times on several occasions at or near the same location, plus he has a bullet lodged in his hip from being robbed at the same location too.”
“On other occasions he was robbed of jewellery and cash but while persons were questioned for the first robbery no one was ever charged or prosecuted.”
Kaieteur News understands that the police have a man in custody whom they are questioning in connection with Thomas’ shooting.
Nov 25, 2024
…Chase’s Academic Foundation remains unblemished Kaieteur Sports- Round six of the Republic Bank Under-18 Football League unfolded yesterday at the Ministry of Education ground, featuring...…Peeping Tom Kaieteur News- There’s a peculiar phenomenon in Guyana, a sort of cyclical ritual, where members of... more
By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News – There is an alarming surge in gun-related violence, particularly among younger... more
Freedom of speech is our core value at Kaieteur News. If the letter/e-mail you sent was not published, and you believe that its contents were not libellous, let us know, please contact us by phone or email.
Feel free to send us your comments and/or criticisms.
Contact: 624-6456; 225-8452; 225-8458; 225-8463; 225-8465; 225-8473 or 225-8491.
Or by Email: [email protected] / [email protected]