Taxi driver kills bandit
By Samantha Alleyne
Stabroek News
September 10, 2002
Delon Accra, wanted by the police for a series of offences, was shot and killed by a taxi driver whose car he, along with two men, was attempting to hijack.
The taxi driver, former journalist Robert Bazil, is now nursing wounds to his head inflicted by the two accomplices, who later escaped. He is said to be in a stable condition at a city hospital.
The police yesterday said they were investigating the discovery of the body of a man, later identified as Accra, in a car at Jamoon Drive, Meadow Brook Gardens at around 10:30 pm. The release said the vehicle was hijacked earlier in the evening.
Speaking to Stabroek News from his hospital bed yesterday, Bazil said he is attending the University of Guyana (UG) on a full-time basis and works his private car as a taxi during the night.
He said the three men hired him in D'Urban Street and said they were on their way to Kitty but wanted to make a stop in Hadfield Street. Bazil said when they arrived at a certain point in Hadfield Street the men told him to stop.
They jumped out and immediately one of them placed a gun to his head stating "this is a stick up."
He was then told to get in the back seat. He was about to leave the car with the intention of entering the back seat by the rear door when he was stopped by one of the men who said, "No! go in deh" indicating that he should squeeze through the two front seats instead.
Bazil said he was then instructed to lie down on the back seat while two of the bandits jumped into the front and the third sat next to him. Before they drove off, Bazil said, the bandits started to hit him with a chopper and he sustained wounds to his head.
The one in the back said, "Put both of your hands behind your back."
Bazil recalls: "I put one hand there and he said put both of them and another one started chopping me. When I put my hand behind my back, they weren't checking me, so I reached around for my gun and I had it cocked."
Then he waited for a "slack moment" and shot the bandit point blank in his chest.
The bandit who was driving the car then stopped and Bazil said he and the other two were then involved in a scuffle. He said in the process of being hauled out of the car his gun was left in the back seat.
One of the bandits dropped his gun and he managed to pick it up. He started shooting but it was empty. He said the two then started to beat him and he screamed out, "creating a scene" in the process.
According to Bazil, residents in the neighborhood came out and he managed to run into a yard where he was assisted by residents who took him to the hospital.
He said he was told that the shot man, who had staggered out of the car, was assisted back in by his accomplices who immediately drove away.
It is assumed that Accra's accomplices drove Bazil's car to Meadow Brook Gardens and abandoned it after the wanted man died.
There have been over 70 hijackings since February 23 when five criminals escaped from Camp Street prison. This is the first time the driver of a hijacked vehicle has struck back.
On August 24 the police had issued a bulletin for Accra whom they said was wanted in connection with investigations into rape and robbery. The release had given his addresses as 3809 North Ruimveldt and 9010 Rosemary Lane, Tiger Bay.
On June 17, Accra was freed of the murder of Clifton Nelson, an act he had reportedly committed on November 14, 1999 at 352 East Street, Georgetown. He was accused of stabbing Nelson to death during a scuffle.