4 arrested as probe continues into Albouystown execution

Investigators probing the execution-style killing of taxi driver Oswald Rambarran have arrested four persons who are assisting with the investigations.

Rambarran, called “Junior”, 42, of Lot 93 West Ruimveldt Housing Scheme, Georgetown, was shot dead about 20:30h on Sunday at King Edward Street, Albouystown, Georgetown.

Speaking with Guyana Times on Tuesday, acting Crime Chief Hugh Jessemy disclosed that the suspects were being questioned about the execution.

“We have a couple persons in custody…four persons were arrested and are being questioned as we speak,” he told this newspaper when contacted for an update on the murder of Rambarran.

According to reports, the taxi driver, who was attached to 007 Taxi Service located in East La Penitence, Georgetown, had just returned to his friend’s King Edward Street home after they had gone to get some food when two persons on a motorcycle pulled up.

The perpetrators reportedly stopped at Sussex and King Edward Streets, and the pillion rider jumped off and ran towards the car as Rambarran and his friend were exiting. The gunman then opened fire, with at least one bullet hitting the taxi driver. The perpetrator then returned to his accomplice on the bike and they escaped.

According to Rambarran’s friend, the attack was a deliberate one on the father of six since no shots were fired at him (the friend) as he ran into the yard, to take cover.

Rambarran was reportedly shot to his left temple and was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital by friends from the area, but succumbed while receiving medical attention.

However, the reputed wife of the dead man, Dolly Yarde, is holding out that the hospital did nothing to save the man’s life, noting that he was left unattended for some time before he was seen by a doctor. The woman further told this newspaper that after receiving the news of the shooting, she rushed to the hospital only to be told that Rambarran had to undergo a scan that would cost $18,000.

Yarde said at the time, she did not have the money and, as such, contacted her daughter who subsequently brought it, but that was too late. During that time, the man was kept in the emergency unit with the bullet lodged in his temple.

“Why they couldn’t do the scan and wait for his relatives come to have the money… that is my thing, why they couldn’t put him through the scan and take the bullet out of his left side head… so they didn’t do anything, so he died with the bullet in his head,” the angry woman related.

Yarde was uncertain of a possible motive for the shooting since she said Rambarran did not have any enemies.

However, according to reports, Rambarran has had previous brushes with the law. In fact, back in 2008, he was shot by the Police during a high-speed chase after he and an accomplice were seen trying to put a man in the trunk of his car.

When asked about the 2008 incident and others that he might have been involved in, the woman claimed that for the past 11 years, she had never known her reputed husband to be involved in criminal activities.

A post-mortem examination is expected to be conducted on the taxi driver’s body today. Rambarran leaves to mourn his six children, reputed wife and relatives.