Four
men on motorcycles on Sunday
attacked a taxi driver and his three
passengers on Mandela Avenue,
shooting at him and tossing him and
the others out of the car before two
of the men sped away in it.
The
attack and carjacking left the
driver nursing a graze to the side
of the head from one of the shots
fired.
The
man, Krishna Tarchand, age 34, and
of Parika, East Bank Essequibo, said
that he was returning from Berbice
on Sunday when at about 2.30 pm,
four men, two of each on a
motorcycle, pulled up alongside him
while he had stopped close to the
traffic light approaching the
junction of Mandela Avenue and
Homestretch Avenue.
He
said that the car, a light-green
Toyota Carina 212 with registration
number HB 2028 has not been
recovered.
According
to the man, he heard sounds, which
he first thought to be a blown tyre,
only to realise that the men had
been shooting at the car. He said
that at that point, one of the bikes
rode up ahead of the car and
positioned itself in front of the
vehicle while the other stayed
behind.
The
pillion passenger of the bike at the
front of the car then whipped out a
handgun and fired a shot in the
man's direction through the front
windshield. According to Tarchand he
quickly tried to evade the
trajectory of the bullet, but was
not quick enough to avoid being
grazed. The man was able to observe
that both of the pillion passengers
had handguns and none of the four
men wore masks.
The
passengers in the car - two women
and a child - started screaming. One
of the gunmen continued to train his
weapon on the driver while
telling him and the others to exit
the car. Tarchand said that the men
relieved one of the woman passengers
of her shoulder bag and a chain that
she was wearing. The passengers of
the car had hired Tarchand to
transport them to Berbice and back.
The
man said that after that, the two
pillion riders got off the bikes and
went into the car, turning it around
in the direction of the sea wall and
driving off while the men on the
bikes, which the man thinks is a
Honda CG 125, rode off. Many of
these bikes are seen in the city's
streets without number plates on
them.
Tarchand
said that while he and the
passengers were going through their
ordeal, persons passing in buses did
nothing. But one man who saw
Tarchand bleeding from his wound
stopped and offered to take him and
the others to the Woodlands Hospital
where he obtained a medical
certificate. He then went the
Brickdam Police Station and gave his
statement. Even with the wound, the
man was able to walk about on his
own though the region of the wound
has some swelling.
According
to the man, he bought the car some
three months ago from BM Soat Auto
Sales for $2.1M and that he still
owes for it. (Johann Earle)