Bandit shoots former Deputy Commissioner’s daughter

Sep 20, 2017 News

– nabbed following spate of other attacks

A gunman on a bicycle shot the daughter of former Deputy Commissioner of Police, George Vyphuis, and her colleague.
He also robbed six people leaving a wake, between 01.45 hrs and 02.30 hrs at Providence and Mocha-Arcadia, East Bank Demerara, yesterday.
But the alleged gunman was captured hours later near the Mocha-Arcadia Police Outpost after one of his victims spotted him.
Tommy-Lee Stevenson, 52, was shot in the hand and foot, shortly after he had dropped his colleague, Cathy Vyphuis, 34, at her Plantation Providence, East Bank Demerara home.
The gunman, said to be a 27-year-old resident of Barnwell North, also shot at Cathy Vyphuis. The bullet grazed Vyphuis’s left hand, and the robber also relieved her of a bag containing valuables.
Vyphuis was treated and discharged while Stevenson was admitted to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).
Police said that Stevenson had just dropped off Vyphuis around 02.30 hrs when they came under attack.
Cathy Vyphuis said she had just left work and just as she reached in front of her yard, she noticed a man, with his face partially covered with a handkerchief, standing not far from the vehicle that had dropped her home.
Before the victims could have done anything, the man, who had a gun, ordered them to remain quiet.
But when Stevenson attempted to drive off, the bandit opened fire, injuring him and Vyphuis, who was standing near the gunman. The robber then relieved Vyphuis of her handbag before fleeing.
Vyphuis said that as she was running to seek assistance, she fell into a ditch. Eventually, a neighbour, Nicole Telford, assisted her until the police and her father arrived.
Telford alleged that the police took “a very long time” to arrive.
Police believe that the same robber attacked six other people about an hour before the shooting.
According to reports, the victims, including two women, were walking in the vicinity of ‘Second Bridge,’ Mocha Arcadia, around 01.45 hrs, when a man on a bicycle, who had covered his face with a handkerchief, rode up and pointed a gun at them.
The robber then ordered them to place their mobile phones on the ground. He then picked up the phones and rode off.
But around 11.00 hrs, one of the victims spotted the alleged robber in the vicinity of the Mocha Police Outpost and alerted police ranks, who took the suspect into custody.
Meanwhile, residents said that there has been an increase in robberies in the area. Only last Wednesday, a gunman broke into a woman’s home and carted off a number of items.

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