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Nov 05, 2016 News
Having witnessed his 20-year-old son’s lifeless body in a mortuary with bullet wounds, a La Penitence, Georgetown father is calling on all youths to stop robbing people and to go out and look for a job.
“If you cannot find a job, there are ways you can create your own work. Thieving is not good and you end up losing your lives and the good future you have ahead,” Eric De Florimonte lamented.
De Florimonte made this statement after his son, Simon Elijah De Florimonte, was shot dead when he and an accomplice were caught trying to break into a miner’s house at Diamond, East Bank Demerara (EBD) Wednesday morning.
The father is hoping that young bandits will mend their ways before it is too late like it was for his son.
“I had no idea this is what my son was doing. When I got the news I was very surprised. I think parents need to talk to their children because robbing people doesn’t pay since you end up losing your lives,” the man said.
He explained that his son worked at a wharf in the city and sometimes assisted him in his small business. “He put himself in that and he had a nice future. There is nothing I can do about what he did.”
According to the devastated father, on Tuesday his son and a few of his friends were drinking in front of their Lot 113 Middle Road, La Penitence home.
“I went to bed and leave him drinking. When we got up the morning, he wasn’t in his bed so we started enquiring what had happened because he doesn’t leave home so early,” the older De Florimonte said.
He explained that later that day, he learnt that his son was shot while trying to rob someone in Diamond.
“We went to the police station and the mortuary and didn’t find him. The next day we identified him. While enquiring, we heard that two boys came and wake my son and he left with them,” the father said.
He noted that in the past, he never heard his son being involved in any robbery.
The Guyana Police Force said that a miner opened fire at two bandits about 02:15hrs on Wednesday as they were attempting to gain entry through a southern door on the lower flat of his house.
The miner was reportedly awakened by a loud noise and when he investigated, he saw the two bandits attempting to enter his home.
He opened fire on the thieves, one of whom was armed with a handgun.
This newspaper was told that De Florimonte was shot dead at the scene while his accomplice managed to escape.
However, while a police patrol was heading to the scene, they observed a 27 West Ruimveldt resident in the area and arrested him.
It is unclear whether he was the getaway bandit but he is in custody assisting with investigation.
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