Berbice woman shot dead during attempted robbery

A lone gunman shot 56-year-old cash crop farmer Pamela Kendall dead at Number 45 Village, Berbice, shortly after 18.00 hrs yesterday.
Kendall was shot in the face shortly after she had entered the back door of the family’s home, located near the Number 45 Village Public Road. She collapsed in her brother’s yard, located a few houses away, and died at the Skeldon Hospital.

Pamela Kendall

The killer reportedly had at least one accomplice, but the two fled empty-handed. Kaieteur News understands that the attack occurred during a power failure.
The bizarre attack has pushed the country’s homicide rate to 100.
The woman’s husband, Deoram Sookchand, an NDC worker, said he was having a bath downstairs and his wife was about to close the back door when he heard a single gunshot, and his wife’s screams.
According to Sookchand, he began to scream to alert the neighbours while one of the alleged bandits armed with a gun ran upstairs. Within minutes the intruder returned downstairs and he, along with his accomplice, fled into the backlands.
Sookchand said that he ran outside to assist his wife, but she had managed to run to her brother’s residence, approximately 100 yards away.
Robert Kendall, the slain woman’s brother, stated that he was not home at the time, but according to information from his wife, the woman, who was injured at that time, ran into the yard and leaned on the front step panting.
She then leaned on a parked car in the yard where she collapsed. She was immediately rushed to the Skeldon Public Hospital where she was pronounced dead on arrival. She bore a gunshot wound to the left side of her face.
Meanwhile, the dead woman’s husband stated that nothing was stolen from the home. According to neighbours, the police responded within 15 minutes.
Mr. Sookchand said that the family was brutalised and robbed back in 2013.
Meanwhile, while media operatives were at the scene, an anonymous call was reportedly made to the home, with the caller stating “don’t call my name in anything,” before hanging up.
Twenty-one women have now been slain for the year. The murder also follows a recent rash of brutal home invasions.
Last Sunday, bandits chopped fish vendors Abdool and Neerranie Kadir in their yard at Number Two Village, West Coast Berbice, before fleeing with a few pieces of jewellery.
On August 1, a young bandit battered 77-year-old Danrasie ‘Carmen’ Ganesh to death in her home at Montrose, East Coast Demerara, before making off with the woman’s jewellery and pension.