Latest update November 1st, 2024 12:59 AM
Teen waitress in protective custody as cops seek shooter
A 16-year-old waitress, who was shot to the face during a robbery last May at a Chinese
Onika Luke
Restaurant in Better Hope, East Coast Demerara (ECD), has been taken into protective custody as investigators continue to hunt for the shooter.
Onika Luke, of Lot 1 Vryheid Lust, ECD, almost lost her life on May 27, last, when a man walked up to her while she was working part time at the restaurant, and demanded cash.
Before she could have handed over the day’s sales, the lone bandit opened fire—hitting her to the throat and her thumb.
Today, almost three months later, her shooter is still on the run while Luke is struggling to get her life back together.
After she was discharged from the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), she was taken into protective custody where she is only allowed to be visited by her mother. This move is to keep her safe from the man who tried to kill her.
Yesterday, her mother, Joycelyn Luke, explained that the bullet is still lodged somewhere in her daughter’s body and cannot be removed due to the position it is in.
“The doctor said that her throat ain’t heal yet and they cannot operate on her because of the position of the bullet,” the older Luke said.
She further explained that when her daughter was discharged from the hospital, she was placed in a home by social workers, who feared that the gunman might look for her and finished off what he started, given the fact that she can identify him.
“They said that not only she, but he can also kill us,” the woman said.
Recalling what transpired last May, the woman said that she was in Trinidad and Tobago working when she received a call that her daughter was shot. The woman had gone there to seek employment.
“I am a single parent and I was there to work. Onika didn’t have to get a job because I was sending money for her,” the older Luke said.
She opined that her daughter might have got the job to assist in the home. “When she got the job, she told me and I said, ‘Baby, go to school and study, I will work and send money for you;’ but she said that is the Chinese people see her and ask her to work.”
The woman is pleading with the police to locate the gunman so that her daughter can return home soon and be with her family.
Divisional Commander, Marlon Chapman when contacted said that ranks have not gotten anything new on the shooting.
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