Taxi driver shot dead
By Michel Outridge

A LA Grange, West Bank Demerara, taxi driver was shot dead on a Georgetown street Sunday night after he was forced to stop by two men in another car, a survivor of the attack said yesterday.

Unsolved murder

Dead is Ricardo Ramsarran, called Ricky, 26, of Lot 3 Unity Street, La Grange.

The passenger who was also attacked, Hemwattie Dhanrajie, 40, of Lot 3 Adventure, Essequibo was shot under her right side eye during the robbery. Fortunately, the bullet hit her right ear, under the right eye and exited.

She was in stable condition in the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) yesterday afternoon.

She told the Guyana Chronicle that she came to Georgetown to shop at about 16:00 h Sunday and sometime after 20:00 h she had just purchased a meal from the Popeye’s fast food outlet on Vlissengen Road when she realised it was late to travel to the West Coast Demerara where she is staying with relatives.

Dhanrajie said she used her cell phone to call the taxi driver, Ramsarran, on his cell phone to take her home. He said he would do the job for $1,000 but told her he had to drop off a cooking gas bottle, she related.

She said he was driving on Woolford Avenue, in the city, when a car came up next to his car and two men armed with a gun and a piece of wood attacked Ramsarran.

Dhanrajie said they began slapping him after he was pulled from the car.

The cook, who is employed with Vieira Communications Limited at Versailles on the West Coast Demerara, said the men pushed him back into his car and shot him in the right side head after they demanded money.

She said they then turned to her after they ripped out the driver’s tape deck, DVD and CD player and took something from the glove compartment.

The robbers took away her two shopping bags and $600 cash, shot her in the head and fled in the waiting car, she said.

She said she lost consciousness after she was shot and when she regained consciousness, she saw Ramsarran’s lifeless body slumped in his car, a red Mitsubishi Lancer, licence plate HB 1188.

OTHER relatives in shock at the house

Dhanrajie said, covered in blood, she left the car and walked down the street looking for help.

She recalled approaching several security guards on duty at schools and asking them for a telephone call but they refused to help her.

However, a female guard flagged down a taxi which took her to the hospital where she was admitted.

The visibly traumatised mother of five recalled that Sunday night was the third time she had travelled with Ramsarran and did not know much about him.

She said she is staying with relatives at Brick Wall Street, Anna Catherina, also on the West Coast Demerara, after she left Essequibo looking for a job.

Police said Ramsarran’s body was found yesterday in the car on Woolford Avenue at about 06:00 h yesterday. Two live rounds and a spent shell were found at the scene, police said.

At Ramsarran’s residence yesterday afternoon, family members were in deep shock at the death.

His father, Eddie Ramsarran, said he was an only child and his mother resides overseas.

A relative, Carlos De Freitas, 54, said the young man left home about 14:00 h Sunday for Georgetown to do business and buy cooking gas.

He said the police found G$31,000 and US$135 cash and his jewels intact but his cellular phone, DVD player, CD player and amplifier are missing.

His car is lodged with the police at Eve Leary, Georgetown.

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Tuesday, December 13, 2005