PM Hinds visits Oscar Clarke – Clarke: “They couldn’t knock me out”

People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) General Secretary Oscar Clarke points to the injuries he sustained when bandits attacked his home

People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) General Secretary Oscar Clarke is recovering at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), despite a bullet is still lodged in his leg, one day after gunmen attacked him and his family at their Plum Park, Sophia home.
Clarke, 74, was on Tuesday night shot twice when gunmen invaded his home during which they also beat and robbed him. Up to press time, Clarke was being treated at the GPHC. Reports indicate that four men entered their home and apart from carting off undisclosed articles, members of his family were gun butted and beaten. It was during a scuffle with the bandits that Clarke was shot. The incident occurred around 21: 00h and according to his wife, Linda Clarke; the PNCR executive was wounded in his left leg and abdomen.
During an invited comment via telephone PNCR executive member Cheryl Sampson stated that Clarke is in good spirits.
Sampson said the PNCR general secretary was examined by an orthopaedic doctor, since there is a bullet lodged in his left hip. However, she said no harm can be done by it and necessary medical steps are being taken to further relieve Clarke.

Not life threatening

Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, performing the duties of president, sharing a light moment with People’s National Congress (PNC) General Secretary Oscar Clarke at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC)

Meanwhile, the Government Information Agency (GINA) has reported that Clarke has been assured that his injuries, which include gunshot wounds to the leg and groin, are not life threatening. According to GINA, a high-spirited but still traumatised Clarke showed Hinds lacerations he suffered to his head after repeated gunbutts by one of two bandits that ambushed him, and the wounds he sustained from the gunshots after he attempted to retaliate.
He recalled trying to engage his assailants in conversation to ascertain the motive behind the attack even as he was being struck in the head repeatedly by the robbers, who he believes were trying desperately to subdue him to unconsciousness before carrying out the robbery.
“I’m a fighter, they couldn’t knock me out,” Clarke told the prime minister, who commended him for his valour. The bandits also restrained Clarke’s wife, son and daughter-in-law who were the other occupants of the home at the time. Following the ordeal, Clarke said he was rushed to the St Josephs Mercy Hospital, but had to be referred to the GPHC after it was discovered that an x-ray machine at the private hospital was out of order.
One of the bullets is still lodged in Clarke’s leg, but he was told that there is no need to worry. He told Hinds that his fortune was secured in his belief in prayers and the fact that “his time didn’t come”, but was disturbed by the fact that his attackers, one of whom he was able to see, is a youngster in his 20s.

Four men
Clarke’s wife, Linda Clarke had told this newspaper Tuesday night that they had just returned home from various meetings when four armed men approached them and began making threats. Mrs Clarke said, they were expecting some of her relatives over and when the men entered the yard, she did not try to raise any alarm, however, when they got closer, they identified themselves as police.
“We were at home already, we parked the car, then he went into our house, which is on the lower flat of the two-storey building.
“I was talking with my daughter-in-law that lives upstairs, well I stopped at her for a key that she was keeping for me,” Linda recalled. She continued: “We saw the four boys coming in the yard and she said oh look the guys here man, but when I look at them, I said those boys they don’t look like my relatives … one of them had a long gun and she ran up the step and he demanded her to come down so I begged her to come before he shoot her.”
Mrs Clarke told Guyana Times International that one of the men slapped her and yelled, “get inside, don’t move and don’t say anything”. She stated that she laid on the floor in disbelief and did not even bother to raise her head. The woman said that her husband was in the bedroom at the time of the incident and she heard some scuffling coming from the room.
“While lying on the floor, there I heard two shots and I heard Oscar shouting for Linda! Linda! Linda! but I couldn’t answer cause the other one was outside standing over me,” she said. Mrs Clarke said one of the bandits kept asking about a canister with the money, but according to her, the family did not have a canister in which they would keep their money.
She remembered that the men then went upstairs to her son Derwyne and his wife.
“So after they didn’t get anything, they went upstairs to my son’s place and they took all his money and the jewellery that they found… none of them was injured,” she related.