Widow vows never to reopen Charlestown beer garden
Gunmen fired shots in all directions
By Samantha Alleyne
Stabroek News
January 24, 2003
In the wake of her husband’s brutal murder, Nandanie Parjohn has vowed never to reopen the family’s Charlestown beer garden.
Leonard ‘Roy’ Parjohn, owner of Steven Beer Garden & Cheap Shop, was shot and killed by gunmen after he handed over all the valuables his family possessed on Wednesday night. At her mother’s home yesterday, Nandanie said she would no longer be living in the home next door nor would she be reopening the business. The grieving widow said while Demerara Distillers and Banks DIH had lent them a tent and chairs for the wake she would not be taking part. She would provide food and drink for those who would want to remember her husband.
“Why deh kill he, I see dem shoot he, he blood running, deh tek everything and still kill he. All I hear is bow, bow and blood.” She said the bandits could have robbed her husband and left him alive for his four young children.
She recalled that they were all downstairs and her big daughter, Nicole, 11, was reading them a story. “One a dem come in place he gun in the grill and deh other three run in and we just had to duck down under the counter. Deh shoot off the padlock and one a dem point the gun to she (pointing to her 4-year-old daughter, Angelena) and me husband open deh the door,” she said. The woman said the men then ordered them upstairs where they took all the money and jewellery. “And is when deh walking out one a dem just turn a round and shoot me husband as he lie down on the floor next to me. De kill he, he ent tek two seconds to dead. Deh tek all the money but me ent kay, de coulda lef he alive me ent want the money.”
As the woman spoke her seven-year-old son, Steven said “Mommy you get daddy beeper?” seemingly oblivious to the fact that his father was no more. “How we go beep he, he dead son, he dead,” she could only reply.
One of the man’s sisters-in-law recalled that he was a loving person always willing to help.
“You see dem things on news, but you never know it would happen to you. Roy woulda never know he would a mek the news,” the relative said. She continued that the men shot her brother-in-law “like a wild animal.”
“Now he ent go see how pretty he children gon grow, he never use to beat dem he always use to tell me to do the beating. Every time a close meh eyes a seeing he dead. The memories tormenting me. Roy was me life.” the man’s wife said.
The gunmen, who were said to be about ten in number, launched a bloody ten-minute assault in Ketley Street during which they robbed two beer gardens, killed two persons and left eight others injured. The incident took place around 8:30 pm.
The men, whom the police said arrived in two cars, robbed Parjohn’s beer garden and Pet Boys Beer Garden & Pools Bar simultaneously and opened a hail of gunfire. The men left one of their cars, a black Marino HA 1913, which they had reportedly hijacked, and commandeered the car of police officer, Jeffrey Lane, PEE 3264. A police release yesterday said that the officer’s car, a grey Toyota Corona, was later discovered abandoned at about 6:40 am yesterday on the Annandale Railway Embankment.
The police release yesterday said that it is unclear how 22-year-old Carlton Norton, of Broad and Lombard Street, met his death. The man’s body was discovered lying on Hogg Street, not far from the crime scene, with bullet holes. Reports indicated that the man might have been shot by the bandits as they departed the scene firing indiscriminately. The man’s relative yesterday said that he had lived alone and while they had seen him earlier in the day they could not explain what he was doing in the area. His sister said when she got the news of his shooting she rushed to the hospital but he was already dead.
Stabroek News understands that Sharon Reece, 28, of 37 Ketley Street, Charlestown, who was on her way home when she was hit by the bandits’ bullets and Surendra Jagmohan, 49, of Hogg Street, Albouystown who was shot while he was tending his brother’s bar, are in critical condition in the Intensive Care Unit of the Georgetown Public Hospital.
Tamika Joseph, 16, of 14 Broad Street, Charlestown; Adrian Reid, 27, of 338 West Ruimvledt; Patsy Samaroo, 58, of 35 Howes Street, Charlestown; and Shonell Dawson, 31, of 78 Pike Street, Kitty are in stable condition.
Police officer Lane, who was shot in his back and Kwesi Leacock, 24, of 52 Louisa Row were treated and sent away.
According to the police release four of the gunmen entered Parjohn’s premises, where several patrons were at the time, and demanded at gunpoint money and jewellery. The gunmen, the release said, forced the couple upstairs leaving the four children in a room downstairs, ransacked the two bedrooms and took $400,000 in jewellery, $310,000 in cash and US$700 after which one of them fatally shot Parjohn.
The police release said that during the time of Parjohn’s robbery the other gunmen, who were in the street, continued firing gunshots in all directions which resulted in the injuring of the eight other persons. They then proceeded to the Pet Boys Beer Garden & Pools Bar where they robbed the owner of $470,000.
The man’s wife, Maureen, yesterday was contemplating migrating stating that she was afraid that the men would return for her husband.
The woman said if her husband had not turned off the main switch in the house they might have been killed.
Their daughter, Shelly, yesterday had her legs in casts as she had injured both when she jumped through her bedroom window and a verandah to get away from the bandits.
She then dragged herself into the neighbour’s home where she sought shelter.
The couple operates a beer garden as well as a wholesale beverage shop. Maureen said her husband was in the wholesale section of the business when the gunmen struck and after he heard the shots he scurried into the upper flat where he turned off the switch and ordered her to hide.
His brother, who had gone to the beer garden for some money, was shot while the bar tender escaped into the upper flat.
According to her, police officer Lane had parked his car in front of their shop and went in to purchase a beer. He had left the keys in the ignition and just as he was at the counter the gunmen arrived and opened fire hitting him in the back.
As they fled the men hijacked Lane’s car to make their escape.
The other car, HA 9913, was out of gas according to its owner and the gunmen were forced to leave it behind.
The police release stated that the gunmen reportedly hijacked the car at the corner of Princes and Haley Streets, Wortmanville. The car was hijacked by four men who robbed the driver of cash, jewellery and a cellular phone.
According to the release nineteen .9mm spent shells, twelve 7.62 x 39mm spent shells, seven .45 spent shells, five warheads and one .9mm live round were found on the scene.
Yesterday, residents of the area said the gunmen had blocked off the street and while some were robbing the beer gardens, others were outside firing shots to keep the frightened residents in their home.
