A 22-year-old man appeared before Principal Magistrate Melissa Robertson-Ogle yesterday charged with the March 20 murder of George Barton at Laing Avenue.

Aman Lalchand called Randy Persaud of Diamond Housing Scheme, East Bank Demerara was not required to plead to the capital offence of murder when it was read to him in the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court. He was subsequently remanded to prison.

Lalchand, dressed in a striped jersey and a pair of three-quarter pants was unrepresented and said nothing in court. His face was expressionless.

Reports are that Barton received a telephone call and in the company of his daughter went to Laing Avenue. As the two made their way through the street just after 8 pm, a car with four men pulled up alongside them. One of the occupants shouted “B”, referring to Barton, before opening fire on him. He was shot in his back, neck and legs. The car drove up a little and turned around and a gunman armed with a much smaller gun fired several rounds at Barton’s teenaged daughter, Anika, hitting her thrice in the knee and once in the buttocks. Reports are that seconds before she was shot, one of the occupants of the car had said that she had to be killed too……