LICKS FOR VILLAGE BULLY
By Cecily Asson Tuesday, June 28 2016
A MASKED gunman, grabbed by residents of Brickfield Road in Carapichaima shortly after he went on a Sunday shooting spree which left three persons including a schoolgirl girl injured, turned out to be none other than the village’s bully. He received a sound cuttail from residents who then called in the police.
Up to press time, one of the victims remained warded in critical condition at hospital while the suspect also remains warded under police guard. Once he is discharged, the man faces numerous criminal charges which could possibly include attempted murder, wounding with intent, unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition and others. The shooting took place while a birthday party was in progress.
According to reports, Winsley Modeste of Ojar Maharaj Avenue, Carapichaima was hosting a lime outside the Brickfield Recreational Club off Waterloo Road to celebrate his 28th birthday, when the village bully - a 45-yearold deportee - came armed with a pistol, intent on causing mayhem.
Police said that at 8.20 pm on Sunday, Modeste and his relatives and friends were standing on the western side of the Waterloo Road near the club when the bully, wearing a green t-shirt, blue jeans, black shoes, white gloves on his hands and a white mask covering his face, approached the limers and fired without warning.
Modeste, his cousin Roberta Modeste, 36, of Waterloo Road and schoolgirl Emily Kadaran, 11, were injured. The child was grazed in the leg as bullets whizzed by.
Roberta was shot in the leg.
Modeste was shot four times including in the chest. In all, residents later told police, the gunman fired 13 times into the group of limers. But even as he still brandished the weapon, the masked gunman was confronted and overpowered by residents.
As he was being slapped and shoved, the gunman’s mask slipped off his face and when residents realised he was none other than the village bully, the slaps turned into a sound cuttail as he was kicked, stamped and cuffed all over his body.
As the beating was in progress, other residents alerted the police and officers led by ASP Sooker and including Cpls Nelson and Bassant, PCs Goolie, Sarran, James and others arrived and arrested the semi-conscious suspect who lay helpless on the ground, guarded by a ring of residents.
The suspect as well as the three shooting victims were taken first to the Couva Health Centre and transferred to the San Fernando General Hospital. Schoolgirl Emily and Roberta Modeste were subsequently discharged while Winsley Modeste remains warded.
He underwent surgery yesterday.
A chrome-plated nine-millimetre pistol and eight rounds of ammunition, found on the suspect’s person, were seized by police.
“Right now there is a bullet near his heart which they can’t remove...so we are hoping for the best,†said one of Modeste’s friends. When Newsday visited Roberta Modeste’s home yesterday, relatives were reluctant to speak. Relatives of the schoolgirl also did not want to say much, only that Emily was playing on the roadside when the shots were fired.
“This what played off was total madness because innocent people could have died,†said a resident. “As we held on to the gunman we at first just wanted to ensure he did not escape and we were holding him until the police arrived. But when the mask fell and we realise that it was the village bully who has been terrorising us...he got no mercy. All I would say is he sustained injuries while being subdued,†another resident said.
Residents claimed that several reports were made at the Freeport Police Station about the bully with one resident even producing a receipt he obtained in April after lodging a complaint with police against the bully. This resident said that the bully had threatened him and his family while brandishing a .38 revolver.
WPC Kadill was assigned to investigate this report which was made on April 18.
“He is very a violent man who liked to ‘bobolise’ everybody in the village. He was always threatening people sometimes with a cutlass and other times with a gun over property. I stood up against him and on Sunday he came to kill me and Winsley who is my real close pardner,†said a resident who asked to remain anonymous. Constables Goolie and Hercules are continuing investigations into the Sunday shooting incident.
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