One year after gunmen opened fire on them, prosecutor’s family still traumatised, begs for police protection
By Isanella Patoir
Traumatised and hopeless. This is how Police Prosecutor, Corporal Hemchand Sukhna and his family are feeling one year after gunmen opened fire on them.
On November 7, 2021, two gunmen riddled the Prosecutor’s house with bullets while he was sitting outside of his Second Street, Craig, East Bank Demerara house. His wife, Indranie Persaud, their 11-year-old son, and another relative were also outside when the incident occurred.
But a year later, the family is still living in fear that the gunmen would return. According to Indranie, their request for protection from the Guyana Police Force did not materialise.
“When was Diwali time, you are just in fear when the squibs go off, sometimes you in the bathroom bathing and you hear an explosion and you think this is it again.
“Sometimes you are home so comfortable and these explosions start go off, even the thunder and you don’t know what to do, if to run for safety,” Indranie told the News Room. The petrified woman said sometimes she is too scared to leave her house.
No one was ever arrested in connection to the shooting and according to Regional Commander, Mahendra Singh, the investigation is still ongoing.
“My husband submitted a statement, we give a report and he would have mentioned who he suspected is the person involved and up to date, nothing,” Indranie explained.
She said she is not satisfied with the way the police are handling the investigation.
“The Police Force should be doing better knowing he is a serving member; I can only imagine what the normal public is going through.”
While the family received no updates on their request for protection, Indranie said her husband applied for his firearm license.
“He would have also applied for his personal firearm and we never get back no response,” the woman said.
She further noted that no psychosocial support was provided to the family following the incident.
“We did not even get counselling, he went back to work the next day and life went on as normal and nothing happened in their minds but it was not the same for our life, we had to change our whole life drastically.”
The couple’s two young children were home at the time of the attack and according to Indranie, they are also visibly terrified wherever there is a sound similar to that of gunshots.
“They would hug each other and ask us if we coming back home to them whenever we leave.
“You always gotta keep looking over your shoulder for safety, if we go out to an activity, we always gotta try to reach home before the place gets dark because you think about what might happen if you come in at night,” Indranie explained.
She recalled that on the night of the attack, her husband and nephew were sitting outside of the house under a shed while she was standing with her oldest child. The woman believes that it was their minibus that saved them that night.
“They aimed for the bus because all the bullets went for that side, we would have been dead, my husband, my nephew would have been hit.”
During the initial stage of the investigation, the police said they were looking at persons who were recently released from prison and were prosecuted by Sukhna.
