Gomattie Ramrattan, the Diamond, East Bank Demerara shop owner who was shot in her face during a suspected robbery attempt last week, remains fearful as the men remain on the run.
Ramrattan, of Diamond New Scheme, sustained a broken jaw due to a gunshot wound she sustained to her face in the attack that was carried out by two masked men. She is currently being monitored by doctors at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH), where her condition is currently listed as stable.
The attack occurred around 5.30pm last Wednesday, minutes after she had returned home from visiting a friend.
Speaking from her hospital bed on Wednesday, Ramrattan said she reopened the shop for business before proceeding into the house to prepare dinner. She said seconds after, a customer arrived at the shop to purchase cigarettes. She attended to him and proceeded to the kitchen area when the attack occurred. “The house got grill all over, so I does normally have the doors open and lock the grill. I went in the kitchen chopping chicken and all I just see is two masked men appear at the door and one of them put a gun to my face,” she related.
Ramrattan said at this point she used her hand to indicate to them to stop but they fired a shot. The men then escaped.
“A set of blood just come out my mouth and I know they were still in the yard, so I hustle to lock the back door and my two bedroom windows before I go to the front and call my neighbour and tell she I get shoot,” Ramrattan said.
An alarm was raised and the police were informed. Neighbours rushed Ramrattan to the Diamond Hospital and she was later transferred to the GPH. She was conscious until she arrived there.
The woman said due to the fact that her back fence is very high and fitted with barb wires, it would have been difficult for the gunmen to gain entrance from the back. As a result, she believes that they were hiding in an abandoned house located on the eastern side of her premises awaiting her arrival home.
She said based on information she received after the attack, the man who visited the shop to purchase cigarettes was seen circling the street several times prior. “People tell me that it look like he was with the gunmen them because they see he did showing sign like if you calling someone after he come out the shop,” she said.
Ramrattan believes that robbery was the motive for the attack but after the gunmen realised that it would have been difficult for them to enter the tightly-secured house, they shot her.
She said she is fearful for her life since the men are still on the lam and she called on the police to thoroughly investigate the matter. To date, she noted, they have not taken a statement on the shooting from her.
Contacted for a comment on the matter, a police source indicated that a search is on for the suspects as investigations into the matter are ongoing.
