A 49-year-old man was placed on $3M bail last Friday on two charges of unlawfully and maliciously discharging a loaded firearm, when he appeared before Magistrate Hazel Octive-Hamilton in the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court.
Narine Ramjit of northern Hog Island, Essequibo River was charged with discharging a loaded shotgun on February 10 at Nazir Ashood and Mohammed Alli, two officials of the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) who were in the company of police officers at the said time. The accused was not required to plead to the charge.
The police prosecutor in objecting to bail said that about 3 pm on the said day, officials from the GEA in the company of police officers were in the northern Hog Island area in search of illegal fuel. Fuel was found on the foreshore nearby where the defendant lives. When the officials began loading the fuel onto a vessel, they saw the defendant and reportedly heard him say “alyuh leave mi fuel. I gon kill all ayuh,” before he discharged his weapon twice in the direction of Alli and Ashood.
Attorney-at-law Hukumchand, representing the defendant, said that there were no fuel-related charges before the court and so the prosecution’s reasons for objecting to bail were not valid. He said that the basis on which an individual was granted bail was based on the person’s willingness to attend court and his client was most definitely not a flight risk.
The defence counsel also said that his client had been a licensed firearm holder for 15 years and had discharged his weapon at 7:30 that night when he heard unusual noises emanating from near his house and went to investigate. He said in consideration of the fact that the rivers are not known to be safe these days his client was only ensuring his self-protection.
The matter was transferred to the Wakenaam Magistrate’s court for March 5.
