Khara Per­sad

A grand­moth­er nar­row­ly es­caped se­ri­ous in­jury or death on Mon­day night, af­ter gun­play out­side her Barataria home led to a stray bul­let en­ter­ing her bed­room and graz­ing her left breast as she slept.Ever­il Phillip, 52, said she was asleep around 8.15 on Mon­day, when a bul­let came through her gal­vanise roof and grazed her body."I heard a loud noise on the roof, and I jumped out of bed. I thought some­thing fell on the roof," Phillip re­called.

She said she looked up and saw a hole in the roof, then felt "a burn­ing" on her left breast. When she touched her breast, she said, she felt blood and re­alised she had been wound­ed."I start­ed to bawl," she re­called, say­ing she then re­alised the bul­let was ly­ing on her bed.

"It just came through the roof and hit me," she said in­cred­u­lous­ly.The wound is now swollen, ban­daged and dis­coloured, but is less painful, Phillip told the T&T Guardian.

Phillip lives on the East­ern Main Road and po­lice be­lieve the bul­let came from a gun which was fired in the air."It's shock­ing. I was shak­ing. But I thank God, I could have lost my life right there on my bed." Her 13-year-old grand­daugh­ter, Nat­i­fa George, was sleep­ing in an ad­ja­cent bed, and was al­so shak­en by the in­ci­dent. Phillip said she im­me­di­ate­ly asked to go back home to her fa­ther af­ter the in­ci­dent.Phillip said it could have been worse.

"If I was ly­ing a lit­tle more to the left, it could have gone through my heart. I thank God for life."Her son Ja­son Phillip has since patched the hole in the roof.Phillip was treat­ed at the Er­ic Williams Med­ical Sci­ences Com­plex in Mt Hope, where her wounds were dressed and ban­daged. She is re­cov­er­ing at home, tak­ing an­tibi­otics and painkillers.