Erwin Bacchus, owner of the Tourist Villa Hotel in Subryanville, Georgetown, was on Wednesday placed on G$1.5 million bail by Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan on a manslaughter charge alleging that on August 4, 2018 at Subryanville, he unlawfully killed Jason De Florimonte.
His attorneys, Nigel Hughes and Glenn Hanoman, told the magistrate in a bail application that their client was acting in self-defence on the day of the incident.
Hughes disclosed that Bacchus had fired two warning shots before shooting De Florimonte, who had armed himself with a knife and rolling pin and had attacked the hotel’s handyman.
As conditions of his bail, Bacchus has had to lodge his passport at the Kitty Police Station, and is also required to report weekly to the same station. The case will continue on August 29.
Reports are that on Saturday last, 30-year-old Jason De Florimonte of Lot 96 Fifth Avenue, Subryanville Georgetown was reportedly assaulting his girlfriend, Christine Rambarran, in front of his home at around 01:45h.
This caught the attention of a 29-year-old handyman employed by the hotel, who intervened to assist the woman. That intervention reportedly angered De Florimonte, and an argument ensued. Realising that the situation was escalating, the handyman ran into the hotel, with De Florimonte in hot pursuit.
Bacchus whipped out his licensed firearm and allegedly fired several shots in De Florimonte’s direction. De Florimonte was shot, and was subsequently rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC), where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
A post mortem examination conducted on his body has given his cause of death as multiple gunshot wounds.
