A 52-year-old businessman was shot in the chest yesterday during an attempted robbery as he sat in his car on Ketley Steet, Charlestown waiting to pass a garbage truck that was blocking his path.
Francis Jairam of 22 Saffon Street, Charlestown and the owner of F&I Jairam Sons and Daughter, General Store, was admitted to the High Dependency Unit of th6e Georgetown Public Hospital and he was expected to undergo surgery to remove the bullet that lodged in the right side of his chest.
Reports are that shortly before 9 am yesterday, Jairam was proceeding north along Ketley Street. As he approached Broad Street, he was forced to stop as a garbage collection truck blocked his path. As he waited, two men approached his car and one of them opened the car door and made demands. The businessman reportedly up a struggle and was shot in the process. However, he was able to reverse his vehicle towards Howes Street and was rushed to the Georgetown Hospital shortly after.
He was conscious but the gunshot wound was bleeding heavily, this newspaper was informed.
The men fled the area on foot and up to press time last evening, they had not been apprehended.
When Stabroek News arrived on the scene, the area was almost deserted and several residents were either unaware of the incident or that Jairam was the person injured.
His store was closed shortly after the incident, but when this newspaper returned later in the day, it was open.
One eyewitness said that from all appearances some planning went into the robbery as the men had been sitting outside a shop for hours but persons though nothing of it as this was a regular occurrence in the neighbourhood.
“Them man tried to rob he but them ain’t get through,” the eyewitness said adding that one of the would-be robbers fired a shot after his demands were not met.
The man could not say if Jairam had anything of value in his car at the time of the incident and it was unclear if the businessman used that route at a particular time each day.
Another resident recalled that the white car Jairam was driving stopped and a man walked up to it and opened the door on the driver’s side.
She said she was uncertain what happened next, but seconds later she heard a single gunshot and saw the man running away.
The woman said Jairam then reversed his car in the direction he had come from, but she said she was unaware that he had been injured.
Over the years, the businessman who operates his business on Saffon Street has been the victim of several robberies, including one in which his security guard had been shot dead. (Zoisa Fraser)
