Suspect charged with Herstelling robbery/murder

A 22-year-old man was yesterday charged with the murder of Abdool Ameer Subrati, the father of two who was fatally shot by bandits when they stormed a house at Herstelling, East Bank Demerara last week.

Devon Chacon, who appeared before Magistrate Judy Latchman, was not required to plead to the charge, which stated that on October 20, at Herstelling, East Bank Demerara, he murdered Subrati during the furtherance of a robbery.

Chacon, who was represented by attorney Folio Richards, was remanded to prison until today, when the case will be called before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan.

Police had said that two men, including a tenant at the Herstelling property, were picked out in identification parades as persons who were involved in the attack.

Subrati, 44, who was a driver with the Demerara Harbour Bridge Corporation, and of Lot 21 Back Street, Peters Hall, East Bank Demerara, was fatally shot after he put up a struggle with one of the two gunmen in the early morning attack. He was rushed to the Diamond Diagnostic Centre and later transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where he underwent surgery and then later succumbed at around 12.30 pm, the said afternoon.

The police, in a statement, had said that the attack was committed on an overseas-based Guyanese couple, Abid Subrati and Amika Appiah. Ameer Subrati, the statement said, “put up a struggle with one of the gunmen and was shot in his neck, after which the men escaped.”

However, the family of the dead man told this newspaper that he was shot while the men were firing wildly during the robbery.