Landlord shot by alleged drug-selling tenant discharged from hospital

Basil Murray, the landlord who was shot on Friday night in Melanie Damishana by his 30-year-old tenant has been discharged from the hospital and placed on bed rest.

Murray, 66, of 89 Nonpareil, East Coast Demerara (ECD) had surgery to remove five of seven bullets that were fired at him.

The former engineer at Guyana Telephone Telegraph Company (GTT) is unable to walk as both feet are covered in plaster of Paris as a result of the injuries he sustained.

Basil Murray
Basil Murray

His wife Rose Murray yesterday explained to Stabroek News that on Friday night her husband took a carpenter to their three-storey property at Lot 360 Melanie Damishana, ECD sometime after 8 pm. The carpenter, Rose said, was scheduled to carry out works on the building on Saturday.

She added that as the men were accessing the works, a young man walked into the yard and asked for “two bags” mistaking the landlord for the tenant. She said her husband chased the man away and confronted the tenant when he entered the yard moments later.

According to the wife, her husband said he asked the tenant, ‘I aint tell you don’t sell things in this yard bhai?’ and the tenant drew a gun fired several shots at him and escaped.

The carpenter immediately rushed the man to the Georgetown Public Hospital where he had emergency surgery.

The wife said doctors informed the family that one of the bullets grazed a vital vein and her husband could have died if he had not received medical attention in time.

Police have recovered seven spent shells from of a small calibre weapon, at the scene.

Police had said in a statement that the landlord had learned his tenant was selling narcotics on his premises and had asked him to desist when he was shot

The tenant remains at large.