Police from Regional Division #2 on Sunday recovered an unlicensed firearm (shotgun) at Tapakuma Village, Essequibo Coast.
According to the report, at about 15.18 hours on Sunday, the police received a report from a councillor of a wounding incident at Tapakuma. Using a tractor, the ranks proceeded into the back dam.
On arrival, police saw David Courtman, a 20-year-old Sawman of Tapakuma village, approaching from the opposite direction. Courtman told the police that his brother, Samuel and another man, Vinod Benjamin, a 30-year-old mason, were fighting over a sack of cement.
He then took the police to Vinod’s house, where they contacted Benjamin and he told the police that he and Samuel were indeed in a fight during which they fell to the ground causing Samuel to suffer a wound to his head.
As a result, Vinod was arrested for alleged wounding. Also, as the ranks were escorting him out of Tapakuma, Vinod told the ranks that Courtman threatened to shoot him on several occasions.
Police questioned Courtman in relation to the threat, and he denied it. The police said that he was further questioned as to if he had a firearm, and he said “Yes”. When asked if he had a licence to carry the firearm, he said “no.”
Courtman then pointed the police to a clump of bushes in the area where they discovered a suspected 12-gauge shotgun without ammunition and serial number. The firearm was taken to the Anna Regina Police Station, where it was marked, sealed and lodged.
