UG student prevented robbery with his death

Apr 16, 2023 News

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=The Detective=

– Parents fear murder case could turn cold

By Shervin Belgrave

Kaieteur News – A brave but fatal decision made on April 2 last by a brave University of Guyana (UG) student, to take on two gunmen by himself, cost him his life, saved an East Coast Demerara (ECD) bar and its patrons from being robbed.

The UG Student Anil Jerry, age 18, was reportedly beaten and stabbed by the gunmen after they tried to take away his female friend’s cellular phone. The gunmen even fired shots in the process and were forced to abort their robbery plan and escape after a bleeding Jerry fell to the ground.  He was rushed to city hospital, but died one week later while receiving treatment at the infectious disease hospital, Liliendaal, Georgetown.

To date, however, investigators have no strong leads in the case and his parents fear that it will turn cold.

“My parents are not taking it (the loss) well, they are getting frustrated that the case might not be solved”, Jerry’s Sister, Alexandra Jerry, told the Waterfalls on Saturday.

She related that her parents have been checking with the police every day, but so far they have not received any positive response. Jerry’s killers wore face masks and unfortunately security cameras at the bar were not working on the day of the attack.

Detectives have tried to review footage from other security cameras in the area but none captured the criminals’ movements after their escaped and all other information gathered so far has led to dead ends.

Jerry’s parents, according to his sister, are grieving his loss but the thought of not receiving justice is making their pain even worse for especially his mother.

Jerry was their only son who had dreams of one day becoming a qualified geologist.

“He was not talkative but very smart”, his sister said. He grew with four sisters in the Region Seven village of Jawalla and excelled at almost anything.  Apart from sports, and Mashramani competitions, Jerry, excelled academically too and was a straight A student.

His brilliance landed him a hinterland scholarship to study at a high school in the city and continued his excellence.

One of his high school teachers said, “I knew since the day he entered the school, he would be the top student. His parents, villagers, teachers and friends were all proud of him. I can’t forget the happiness on his mom’s face when he was announced as the top performer”.

After doing well at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC), he applied to the University of Guyana and was accepted to pursue a degree in natural sciences. His parents could not be more proud when he began his first semester at UG, September last year. They did expect that his path to greatness would have been cut short so quickly and brutally.

On Sunday April 2, 2023 he visited his sister at Better Hope East coast Demerara (ECD) and spent some time with her. After completing an errand for her he decided to return to his home in Cummings Lodge.

“He said he was going home and sleep”, Alexandra recalled.

It is unclear if Jerry had made it home but the waterfalls learnt that he went for a lime at the Kitty seawalls with a male friend.

Later that evening while he was still at the seawall a female friend called him and invited him for a drink at the ECD bar. Clueless about what was about to happen, Jerry and his male left and went to meet her.

The waterfalls understand that they arrived around 22:00hrs, chose a table outside and chatted for about ten minutes before tragedy struck.

Two masked men armed with guns rushed into the bar and stopped at their table first to begin their loot. One of them attacked Jerry’s female friend and tried to take away her cell phone.

Reportedly seeing them “ruffing her up”, Jerry decided to intervene and protect her from further assault, but in doing so he put his own life on the line. His fought back with the bandits also allowed other patrons to secure themselves inside the bar behind a locked gate.

Jerry and his friends were left alone outside with the gunmen. They recalled that the men beat him with their guns and fired off some shots. Jerry fell to the ground and the men ran away.

They noted that he was bleeding from the neck. At first they thought he was shot but when they arrived at the city hospital, doctors there said it was a stab wound.

Jerry’s sister was notified and immediately rushed down to hospital just in time to have one last conservation with her brother before he went into surgery.

Jerry reportedly told his sister “we get beat up” but could not recall being stabbed.

“He seh that dem lash he in he head with a gun and he get blackout but no more details”, Alexandra recounted before remembering her brother’s last words, “Ah thirsty… I want to go home”.

Alexandra said that they took him into surgery immediately but he came out brain dead. Doctors explained to his loved ones that the stab wound had severed a main artery in his neck and prevented enough blood from reaching his brain.  Jerry died a week later.

When asked why Jerry would make a fatal decision to fight off two gunmen, his sister said that he had one weakness and that was to protect and defend females because he grew with four sisters.

 

 

 

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• Anil Jerry, ECD, gunmen, murder, robbery

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