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Man
shot dead at sand
pit
Dead: Ramesh Bess
BANDITS on the Soesdyke-Linden Highway yesterday morning shot and killed a Sand Pit Checker, Ramesh Bess, as he was about to report for duty and robbed another sand miner of $15,000 before escaping.
Bess' employer, who was with him at the time, escaped unhurt from the gunmen who demanded cash. The incident occurred around 07:30 hrs.
Bess 50, of Swan Sand Pit Linden Soesdyke Highway, died of a single bullet wound which was fired to the back of his head, his boss Mangra Raghoo said. Proprietor Tularam Tiwari Gaytrie Charran car-caught-winches PPP-appeasement Barbot Paul A former national bantamweight boxer, Bess lived near the sand mine with his reputed wife, Wendy Williams, and four children, the youngest a mere 16-day-old boy. Kalowatti
Brijlall,
6-months
pregnant, was beaten
and
stripped Raghoo,
who operates the
Swan sand pit along
the Highway, said he
and Bess were in a
Toyota pickup when
the incident
occurred. He said he
was taking Bess to
the sand pit to
relieve another
Checker who had
worked the earlier
shift when three men
emerged from the
nearby bushes and
fired a single shot
and demanded money.
Raghoo said he was
unaware that Bess
was hit, since he
thought the bandits
had fired a warning
shot. The
sand pit operator
said he told the
bandits he had no
money, but directed
them to another
worker at the mine.
As the men proceeded
towards the sand
pit, he jumped out
of his vehicle and
escaped into the
bushes. He said he thought that Bess had made a similar move. However, after he learnt that the men had fled the area, he returned to the vehicle and saw Bess lying on the ground with blood oozing from the back of his head.
He
said the men
launched an attack
on him as well. He
explained that one
of the men who was
armed with a rifle
and wore a white
stocking over his
face began
approaching him
cranking the gun,
which appeared to
have jammed. The
truck driver
immediately took out
his cell phone to
call and alert a
worker at the sand
pit about what was
happening. "I
begin to reverse the
truck and then the
other two start to
run along the cross
track leading to
another sand pit,
and the one with the
gun turn back and
follow them. I said:
`Praise the Lord'. I
come out the truck
and see Bess lie
down on the sand
with a big whole in
he head, and I start
to holler," he
told the Chronicle
yesterday evening. After
fleeting from that
sand mine, the
bandits proceeded to
a nearby mine,
attacked and robbed
the Checker there,
then reportedly shot
at a 12 volts
battery used for
lighting at the
mine's office. Police removed Bess' body from the mine site and took it to a city funeral parlour. Investigations are continuing into the shooting. Friday, August 15, 2003 |
