Testimonials. Victims of an attempted robbery, two traders break the silence on insecurity

“I felt something pass through me and I fell to the ground”says Claude. On September 18, it was 12:15 p.m. when two armed men entered the Campus Services Imprimerie store in Cayenne.

In a few seconds, Claude and his boss are victims of an attempted robbery. He is shot in the stomach.

“I didn’t think I would bleed, but the bullet passed through me, everything happened very quickly,” remembers Claude, 41 years old. Hospitalized in Kourou, he was unable to get up or eat for several weeks.

This Tuesday, November 12, Claude and Audrigue Verin, the director of Campus Services Imprimerie, decided to speak out to break the silence and prevent this violence from becoming trivialized. Victims of insecurity rarely testify, yet beyond the news item, lives are turned upside down.

“In 27 years of activity, this was the first time I saw thisdeplores Audrigue Verin, director of Campus Services Imprimerie. Most often in my store, people say to me: 'you save my life!' The business had printing, internet café and money transfer activities.

Since the robbery, Audrigue Verin has stopped money transfers. “It has become too risky, too difficult to manage,” he explains.

However, money transfer is a service that families need, it is something useful to the population. We didn't think we could be attacked, but the lure of gain was stronger.

Claude, shot

On September 18, the merchants were in the store when a known customer rang the bell. Claude got up to open the door and two hooded and armed men took the opportunity to enter the door.

“I look up and I see a stampede at the entrance, I think it’s a friend of the customer, and then the first shot goes off”says Audrigue Verin.

By the time I jumped, a second bullet went off and hit Claude in the abdomen. I saw him fall.

The armed man leaves the store, the second attacker leaves then returns to try to recover the cash register. Audrigue begins to scream: “you’ve already hurt him, leave him alone!” “I shouted loudly, people started coming, so they ran away and it was over, it lasted a few seconds,” adds the store owner.

Wounded by a gunshot, Claude is taken care of by emergency services and hospitalized in Kourou. The bullet passed through his liver, kidney and intestine. An internal bleeding is in progress, he is quickly operated on and will remain lying down for several weeks, on painkillers.

Two months after this attempted robbery, the two men felt “disappointed”. They no longer have contact with the police. “We feel abandoned” regrets Audrigue Verin. With Claude, they decided to testify so as not to be forgotten and above all to prevent insecurity from becoming trivialized. Supported by the Trop Violans association, the two men hope that their testimonies will raise awareness.

Trop Violans regularly calls on the State on the problems of insecurity in Guyana and denounces “inertia”. The association is asking in particular for the relaunch of the monitoring committee of the Guyana Agreement supposed to fight against insecurity.