Shot La Penitence vendor discharged from hospital

Doodnauth Danasri
Doodnauth Danasri

Doodnauth Danasri, the La Penitence market vendor who was shot while trying to defend his wife from robbers on Monday, has been discharged from the hospital.

Commander of ‘A’ Division (ag) Leslie James confirmed that Danasri, who was grazed to his temple by a bullet, was discharged from the hospital.

James also said the suspects are yet to be apprehended.

Stabroek News had previously reported that around 5.30pm on Monday, four unmasked men, one of whom was armed with a suspected .38 revolver, attacked Danasri, 62, called ‘Hardat’ of Windsor Forest, West Coast Demerara and his wife Meena Danasri at their stall outside Twin’s Drug Store on Saffon Street.

Police said Doodnauth was shot once in the region of his temple and to his hand and was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital.The police said Meena and Doodnauth were selling at the market when they were attacked by the bandits. “Two men, one armed with a handgun and the other with a knife, pounced on her [Meena] and demanded the cash from her apron,” the police said.

As a result, the man rushed to her rescue and was shot to the head, they added, while noting that the apron containing an undisclosed amount of cash was handed over to the suspects, who escaped on a bicycle.

Meena had related to this newspaper that she was repacking vegetables when the men approached her. “I was on the stand packing the ochroes. By time I turn around, one of them stand behind me. One of them had a shine gun and the other had a knife,” Meena explained. “So meh husband packing the bus and he come from behind the bus and turn and said, ‘Ey, wha you going and do that lady?’ And I start holler. He then fired the shots at my husband,” she had said.

After the bandit fired the shots at her husband, the woman said she ran behind their bus in a bid to escape but the bandits “come behind me with the knife and gun and I hand them the money.”

The perpetrators managed to cart off $150,000 in cash, which Meena said was from their sales on Sunday and Monday.  After the robbery, the bandits escaped through James Street, Albouystown.

Meena had said prior to the incident, she noticed suspicious persons lurking around the market.

“The market constables see them too. Them constables come next to me and tell me, ‘Hustle and pack! Hustle and pack!’ And I was trying to but they come to me,” she had noted.

The woman added that she was attacked by two men but later learnt that two others were keeping guard.

The couple returned to their regular vending yesterday.