A 28-year-old man on Saturday night fought off five armed men and prevented them from entering his shop but sustained several stab and gunshot wounds in the process.

Vatish Gobin, of Old Road Craig, East Bank Demerara, is now a patient at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) nursing stab wounds to his hand and chest and two gunshot wounds to his right hand and his rib cage.

According to a release from the police, about 8.30 pm on Saturday, Gobin was shot by five men armed with guns and knives.

Investigations revealed that Gobin had already closed his grocery when the men confronted him and demanded that he reopen. He refused. As a consequence, he was beaten and stabbed.

While fleeing from his attackers, he sustained gunshot injuries to his right wrist and rib cage, according to the police.

Police responded to the report and took Gobin to the hospital.

The man's wife yesterday told Stabroek News that some of the men had on masks. She said when the men ap-proached her husband he was about to lock the gate and they demanded that he open but instead he frantically sought to close it.

It was at this point that the men stabbed him and he ran to the back of the yard calling for help. The man climbed the back fence and his neighbours came to his rescue. The bandits then made good their escape.