“I am afraid that the money will enable this to be pushed under the rug,” expressed Wendy De Florimonte.
Her 30-year-old nephew, Jason De Florimonte, was shot dead allegedly by Erwin Bacchus, the owner of the Tourist Villa Hotel and Bar, located across the road from their Fifth Avenue, Subryanville home on Saturday.
De Florimonte was the father of three boys, who are all below the age of ten. He was employed as a driver at Top Brandz, a local entertainment company.
When she went on her veranda, Wendy said she could not believe her eyes. “I saw him lying motionless and he was gasping for breath.”
News Room understands that the man was arguing with his girlfriend outside his home around 1am on Saturday when a handyman, who works at the hotel, intervened in an attempt to break up the fight. However, De Florimonte reportedly started arguing with the handyman and at this point, the hotelier became a part of the altercation.
The three men were outside of the hotel when the businessman allegedly whipped out his gun and discharged several rounds at De Florimonte.
De Florimonte reportedly tried to escape and crossed the road to go home but collapsed on his neighbour’s bridge.
At this point, it is alleged that Bacchus went over and allegedly pumped another set of bullets into the man’s abdomen.
When News Room visited the scene today, there were blood stains outside the hotel as well as outside of De Florimonte’s residence.
The trunk of a black car, which was parked nearby, was also stained with blood. Wendy said when she asked Bacchus why he did it, the man shouted: “I had to shoot him, I had to shoot him. He rail up, he rail up.”
Bacchus is known to Wendy as he is her tenant. The businessman rents a part of her property as a parking lot for his establishment.
Wendy praised the police for doing a good job in trying to save her nephew’s life but she lamented that their efforts were in vain. De Florimonte was pronounced dead at the Georgetown Public Hospital.
Wendy is extremely concerned that justice will not be served, given that Bacchus is a “big businessman”. She noted that only about three months ago, Bacchus threatened to “shoot Jason”.
The pair was involved in an argument over “some ecstasy story,” the aunt said.
Wendy said she observed the “high profile” lawyers that came by after the incident and that the attorneys had to power to summon the police back to the scene even after they completed their investigation.
“Because Mr Bacchus is who he is and he associates himself with the big money Bacchus family and from what I saw this morning, the lawyers that turned up and they called the police back and the police came back to the scene…I am afraid that the money will enable this to be pushed under the rug,” she expressed.
Family members told News Room that the businessman has already claimed that his security cameras stopped working; therefore, they did not capture what transpired outside of his premises at the time of the murder.
“There will be a whole hue and cry for now and then thereafter, it will die down and then I will see Mr Bacchus over there again. That is my fear,” Wendy expressed.
The woman is calling on the authorities to ensure justice is served.
“We don’t want vengeance, we want justice,” she said.
