Families of slain five recall horrors
By Shawnel Cudjoe

FIVE men were executed and several others wounded when a large group of gunmen unleashed terror on three villages on the East Bank Demerara late Tuesday night.

Four of those killed were pressmen working at the Kaieteur News printery at Eccles Industrial Site.

Dead are Chetram Persaud, 46, of Lot 76 CC Eccles; Eion Wegman, 47, of Lot 51 Fourth Street, Alberttown, Georgetown; Richard Stewart, 24, of Lot 239 Lamaha Park, East La Penitence; Mark Mikoo, 22, of Lot 5 Company Park, Yarrow Dam, La Penitence, and Wordsworth Grey, 32, of Lot 31 Norton Street, Bagotstown.

Another Kaieteur News pressman, Shazeem Mohamed, of Lot 267 BB Eccles and the security guard at the printery, Julian De Grace, were nursing gunshot wounds at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation yesterday.

This newspaper was informed that Mohamed, who was shot in the head, was currently recuperating in the High Dependency Unit. By midday yesterday he was responding to family members.

Employees at the printery said that they heard one of the gunmen shout, “If is trouble they want, they will get f…..g trouble!” as they swept into the building and ordered the printing staff to lie face down on the floor.

They then shot five of the employees in the back of the head, killing four on the spot.

Malwantie Persaud, 45, yesterday said that her husband Chetram, called ‘Boyo’, left their Eccles home for work around 21:40 h, some 20 minutes before the attack.

She said that since his workplace was a short distance away, he left on his bicycle.

According to a distraught Persaud, she was lying in the hammock on her veranda when she heard rapid gunfire coming from the direction of her husband’s workplace.

She said word quickly spread that the printery was indeed under attack and when the gunfire subsided, they went to the place only to discover her husband among the dead. There was a bullet hole to the side of his head.

The couple had been married for the past 23 years and had two children, Dwijesh, 22, and Dhanesh, 20. He also leaves to mourn his mother, five sisters and two brothers.

In December of 2002, Persaud was robbed and beaten and his motorcycle torched when arsonists invaded the printery. Two armed men entered the building and ordered the four press men at gunpoint to lie face down on the floor. They beat and robbed the workers before drenching the place in a flammable substance.

They then hurled bombs into the building and it was badly damaged causing millions of dollars in losses. No one died in that attack.

Among those left to mourn the death of 22-year-old Mark Mikoo, is his 18-year-old reputed wife Tarwattie Rajbans and their four-month old baby Annalisa Mikoo.

Mikoo lived at Lot 5 Company Park, Yarrow Dam, La Penitence, and had been working at the Eccles Printery for the past six months.

Rajbans said her husband left their home around 21:10 h. She said she received the devastating news around 22:30 h from her father.

“He just told me that Mark was shot by bandits,” she recalled.

The young woman said her husband was always a quiet person who never had problems with anyone.

Forty-seven-year-old Eion Wegman was also shot dead when the gunmen invaded the Eccles printery.

His wife, Nadine Wegman, yesterday told this newspaper that her husband left for work around 20:15 h. She said she got the message that he died, which her son left on the answering machine, some time after midnight.

She said that when she saw his body at the mortuary, his face was swollen and he had a gunshot wound to the right temple.

Collette Daniels, 31, and her reputed husband Wordsworth Grey, 31, were relaxing in the shop which they operate at their Lot 31 Norton Street, Bagotstown, when gunshots rang out.

Yesterday, the woman said that by the time they left the shop and tried to enter their home, they were confronted by five heavily-armed bandits. She said she quickly sprinted into the house, pursued by one of the men, while the other four chased her husband.

According to Daniels, once inside, she took her children and went into the bedroom where they remained hidden under the bed. Simultaneously, rapid gunfire was coming from outside.

“All I keep hearing is ‘Bam! Bam! Bam!”, she related.

Shortly after, one of the gunmen was heard saying “he a’int dead yet” as they continued to pursue him through the yard.

She said that when the gunfire ceased some half an hour later and she ventured outside, her husband was lying dead in the drain at the side of the house. The man was the father of a one year, nine-month old daughter.

Owner and publisher of the Kaieteur News Mr. Glenn Lall said the attack was a devastating blow to the media itself, but more importantly to Kaieteur News.

“We are kind of down at the moment but not out,” he told this newspaper.

He added that Tuesday night’s attack was a deliberate one aimed at his newspaper and it was well orchestrated and executed.

He said the families of the dead men will be compensated and the workplace will take care of all funeral expenses.

Thursday, August 10, 2006