Narine, who operated Pato's General Supplies Wholesale and Retail store for more than 35 years, told the Chronicle yesterday that he is now very fearful for his life. He said he has no desire to continue doing business there.

The businessman's wife, Koshmantie Singh, 38, also known as 'Shanta', was pronounced dead on arrival at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), officials said.

ATTACKED: Pato's General Supplies store, which was robbed by bandits.

Ms Singh was brutally shot twice in each breast and once in her chest after pleading with the bandits to spare the life of her almost two-year-old son, Hrithik Singh.

"I ain't opening that door for dead now, because dem gon come fuh me next", he remarked.

Narine was not injured during the attack because he had secluded himself in a room, but an employee and Omash Singh, nephew of the deceased woman, was shot in the left great toe, hospital officials said.

A customer, Tyrone Fletcher, 31, of Agricola, Greater Georgetown, was reportedly shot in his leg.

After terrorising the family, the bandits took off with $7,000, Narine said.

He related to this newspaper that around 19:30 hrs on Monday he was in the shop attending to a customer and had to leave the counter area to make some change.

As he was returning to the counter with the change, Narine said, he saw two men armed with guns trying to force their way behind the counter by breaking through a glass case. There were also about two other gunmen outside the building keeping guard for their accomplices, an eyewitness reported.

Narine said that as the bandits were forcing their way deeper into the shop, his employee ran towards the section of the premises where metal is stored, intending to escape gunfire.

The businessman said that about this time, he too ran, but to the upper flat of the building where his wife was with their baby. He alerted her to the fact that bandits were in the building.

During that time, he heard shots being fired, but could not say from which direction.

He then heard one of the men harassing his wife, who he believed the men had stopped in the stairway demanding money and jewellery.

Narine said he heard his wife telling the men that she did not live on the premises and so she could not tell them where any of the valuables were kept.

He said what his wife told the bandits was true. He explained that she spent most of her time on the Essequibo coast attending to other family business there.

The businessman said that after the last shot was fired in the building there was silence.

It was at that point that he suspected something had gone wrong with his wife. He said that when he decided to come out of his hiding place to check on his wife, he saw her lying head downwards on the stairway with blood on her body.

"I went and shake her hands and head, and she didn't respond. So I realised she was dead."

Narine said he immediately asked a few persons, who were around to assist him in closing the shop and taking his wife to the Georgetown Hospital. As he feared, his wife was pronounced dead by medical officials at the institution.

Police arrived at the scene shortly after the bandits fled, and soon, throngs of curious and shocked residents gathered outside the business place.

Yesterday, the Guyana Bar Association (GBA) condemned the killing of Koshmantie Singh and the act of banditry committed on the family.

The association's President, Mr. Nigel Hughes, told the Chronicle that the GBA condemns all forms of violence wherever they occur with no reservations.

He offered his deepest sympathy to the bereaved family

Tuesday, March 11, 2003