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JANUARY 24, 2004
Edward Vansluytman, 27, of Lot 27 Ketley & Broad
Streets, Charlestown yesterday related the fateful events of January 22, 2003,
when heavily armed bandits stormed ‘Steven’s Beer Garden’ and the nearby ‘Pet
Boy’s Beer Garden & Pools Bar’ killing three persons and injuring eight
others.
The still
traumatised man told the Guyana Chronicle that at about 8.25 p.m. he was on duty
at Steven’s Beer Garden ordering beers for a customer when he heard rapid
gunfire.
“I immediately
ran into the washroom and hid myself with about eight others. One bandit came up
to the door and ordered us to open the door; we were all trembling with fear and
could not move. Another bandit came and was kicking the door. One gunman told
the other to ‘Shoot down the door and kill them’. But, luckily, he did not,”
Vansluytman recalled yesterday.
Reliving the
event was not an easy task for the former employee of Steven’s Beer Garden. His
hands were shaking as he spoke.
Vansluytman
disclosed that he remains fearful, and very often, he looks around and wonders
at the fact that he is alive today.
“Me run out
the toilet after, and went outside and ran into the rum shop at the street
corner ‘till them gone. Then I went back only to see me boss (Leonard Parjohn)
get shoot. Me and he wife lift he and put he in a vehicle to take him to the
hospital. He died on the spot, but we still carried him to the Georgetown
Hospital,” the man recalled.
Yesterday,
Steven’s Beer Garden was tightly shut since the co-owner, Ms Nanda Parjohn, has
migrated to Canada. She left seven days after the robbery attack.
The business
was reportedly put up for sale or rent, but no one came or seemed
interested.
Also reliving
sad memories yesterday was Mr Mahendra Jagnandan, proprietor of ‘Pet Boy’s Beer
Garden & Pools Bar’. That shop was opened for business as usual yesterday,
although the owner appeared somewhat sad.
Jagnandan
stated that he is very thankful to be alive. He plans to continue operating his
business although he was robbed of a substantial amount of money during the
attack.
He related
that during the attack he hid himself under his king size bed.
Carlton Norton
of Broad Street, who was on an errand to purchase a loaf of bread at a nearby
bakery, died on the spot after being shot, while Sharon Reece, who was also hit
by gunfire, succumbed three days later at the Georgetown
Hospital.
Reece, who
lived at 37 Ketley Street, Charlestown, has left to mourn her husband John
Vaughn, and their four children - Simon, 12; Sheldon, 10; Stephon, six; and
Stephanie, four.
Yesterday,
when this newspaper visited the family, Mr Vaughn came close to tears as he
reflected on the fond memories he has of his late wife.
He pointed out
that since her death, he has found it very difficult to cope as a single parent.
Even more challenging, he said, are the times when his children ask him many
questions regarding their mother.
“Stephanie was
closer to her mother, and she asks for her all the time. She takes the photo
album and looks at the pictures and says, ‘Mommy,’” said Vaughn.
Sharon’s
mother, Ms Roxy Jegroo, 52, told the Chronicle yesterday that although the
memories of her daughter are still fresh in her mind, her grandchildren are a
source of comfort to her.
Among persons
injured by gunfire on the night of January 22, 2003 were: Patsy Samaroo, of
Howes Street, Charlestown; Tamika Joseph, 15, of Broad Street, Quacy Leecock, of
Louisa Row; Ganshan Jagnandan, 39; Monifa Edwards, seven, of Regent Street; and
off-duty Policeman Jeffrey Layne.
Relatives recall horror of night attack
One of FBI’s 10 Most Wanted in Burnham's Army
DEAD: Proprietor, Leonard Parjohn.
SYMPATHISING: teachers and students of
Ketley Street Primary School sympathising with the relatives of the
dead man, Leonard Parjohn.
WIFE of the businessman slain in Wednesday night's shooting spree
in Ketley Street, Charlestown, Georgetown, Mrs. Nandanie
Parjohn, yesterday remained deeply shocked at the horror of the bandit
attack which claimed the life of her husband, Leonard and another person -
Carlton Norton of nearby Albouystown.
Most of then 10 other persons
wounded in the attack by the gunmen were recovering in hospital.
Amid
deep anguish, many persons huddled in the home of the Bheirs, (Nandanie's parents) to offer their condolences, resigned to
seeing in the death of the 31-year-old businessman, an act of selflessness and
profound fatherly love by one who took a decision to defend his family to the
last.
Parjohn who, along with his wife and children tried desperately
to seek cover as the heavily-armed bandits entered the business premises of
`Steven's Beer Garden and Cheap Shop' on Wednesday night, were greeted with
fierce gunfire.
DEAD:
Proprietor, Leonard Parjohn.
The businessman reportedly
hid his wife and children under a counter, but could not himself manage to fit
there. As the ruthless gunmen continued their rampage, demanding cash, and
ordering the proprietor to open the grill door, Parjohn maintained his stance
not to open the door to let them deeper into the premises, relatives
said.
One of the men, on seeing the businessman's family under the
counter, pointed his gun at Parjohn's four-year-old daughter, and threatened to
shoot her if the father did not open the door to let them in, they
said.
It was at this stage that the businessman decided to give in to
the gunmen's demands.
WOUNDED: Ghansham Jagbandhan, brother of Mahendra
Jagbandhan, proprietor of `Pet Boy's Shop'.
He
opened the door, a relative said, but the intruders, even after stashing an
undisclosed amount of cash and the family's jewellery which Mrs. Parjohn, out of
fear had handed over to them, shot the businessman in his head. He was taken to
the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation where he was pronounced dead on
arrival.
At the home of the deceased yesterday, grief was evident
everywhere, as scores of sympathisers, including the bereaved children's
classmates and teachers, kept pouring in to extend their
condolences.
Meanwhile, another family member, Mahendra Jagbandhan,
proprietor of `Pet Boy's Shop' - the other business premises next door - said
the ordeal lasted more than half-an-hour.
He said he was in the bar
speaking with a law enforcement official who had stopped by to buy a beer, and
there were about five other persons in the shop, when someone alerted him that a
car was outside, moving suspiciously.
Mahendra said that before he
was able to respond, the car had stopped, armed gunmen emerged and began
shooting wildly. The law officer who was identified as Jeffrey Layne was shot in
the back, and he (Mahendra) dived for cover.
He said he ran upstairs
but was hotly pursued by the gunmen. He recalled that he hurriedly switched off
the lights, and he and his wife hid in separate rooms where they remained
undetected until the men had left the building.
SYMPATHISING: teachers and
students of Ketley Street Primary School sympathising with the relatives of the
dead man, Leonard Parjohn.
The bandits made off with more than
$400,000 taken from the bar.
In the meantime, his stepdaughter Shelly
panicked and jumped through a window on the top floor of the three-flat
building, down into the yard. She injured a leg and had to be treated at a city
hospital yesterday.
Norton, 22, was reportedly crossing the street
when he was hit by a bullet as the bandits continued shooting while
escaping.
Meanwhile, of the 10 persons wounded in the shooting, at
least one - Layne - was discharged from the hospital
yesterday.
Mahendra's brother Ghansham, who was shot in the region of
the groin, remained in hospital, but was reported in stable condition.
Sixteen-year-old Tamika Joseph of Broad Street, Charlestown, shot in the leg,
was in the Intensive Care Unit, but in stable condition.
Sharon Reece
28, also shot in the groin, was also in the ICU in critical condition. Kwesi
Leacock, 24, of Louisa Row and Shawnell Dawson of Pike Street, Kitty, and S.
Dass, also of Pike Street, were in stable condition.
Adrian Reid, 27,
of West Ruimveldt and Patricia Samaroo of Howes Street, Charlestown were
yesterday in the High Dependency Recovery Unit of the
hospital.
Police yesterday said that Layne's Toyota Corona motorcar,
licence plate PEE 3254, which was hijacked when he was shot by the bandits, was
discovered abandoned about 06:40 hrs on Annandale Railway Embankment Road,
South.
Police said that around 20:20 hrs Wednesday, two motorcars -
one white, and the other a black Marino, licence plate HA 9913, reportedly
hijacked at the corner of Princes and Haley streets, pulled up in front of the
Charlestown business premises.
Several gunmen left the vehicles and
began shooting in different directions, Police said.
Four of the men
entered Parjohn's premises where several patrons were and demanded money and
jewellery at gunpoint.
The gunmen, once having gained entry to the
residential dwelling, forced the couple upstairs, leaving the four children in a
private room downstairs.
They then ransacked the bedrooms, taking
away some $400,000 (local and foreign currency) and jewellery. It was after this
haul that they shot Parjohn, relatives said.
In the meantime, other
gunmen on the streets wreaked havoc, firing wildly, wounding several persons and
causing damage to nearby buildings.
Witnesses said innocent passersby
were caught up in the intense gunfire, and patrons on the premises alike were
harassed and robbed.
One person recalled that in one of the shops,
five persons were huddled in a toilet, taking cover, while incensed gunmen
kicked and banged at the door.
The lone young woman hiding with four
men in the lavatory said she shivered in her boots. "Ah remembered meh two
children, and prayed to God to save meh life", she recalled.
She said
she began crying out aloud, and the men in the toilet covered her mouth,
admonishing her to keep quiet for their safety's sake.
"It was like a
living nightmare", she recalled, adding, "Is only God save
we."
WOUNDED: Ghansham Jagbandhan, brother of Mahendra Jagbandhan, proprietor of `Pet Boy's Shop'.