An attempted robbery at the Maraval home of Port-of-Spain Mayor Joel Martinez has left his gardener hospitalised.
The incident occurred just after 3 pm on Thursday.
A report said a bandit jumped the wall of the mayor’s residence at Perseverance Road, Moka, Maraval, after which shots were fired, hitting the gardener in the chest and arm.
It is unclear if the bandit’s objective was robbery or an attempt to kill the gardener.
The incident sparked panic in the Maraval community, with a private security company in hot pursuit of the bandit.
Speaking to Guardian Media outside his home after the incident, Martinez said he was not at home but his family was and they were extremely traumatised by the incident.
He said, “I got a call from one of my neighbours indicating that they heard gunshots in the area and looking out the window, they saw a guy walking down, come to my wall and jump over the wall and went into the yard and that is when the gunshots were heard and the guy ran back up the road. It turned out that my gardener, who was in the yard at the time, got hit, one to his chest and one to his hand.”
He added: “The gardener then jumped over my wall and into the river and ran up into some other houses higher up and those home owners called me to tell me what was happening because he was lucid enough to be able to speak and tell them who he was and what the circumstances were. I called the police immediately and the ambulance to have them come up here as quickly as possible but the police decided to take him down to the hospital because he was bleeding profusely.”
The mayor’s home became a crime scene, with the police conducting investigations as spent shells and other items were retrieved as evidence.
Martinez said, “He is the neighbourhood gardener for many years. I hope that he survives and he recovers from this. He is a good boy and worked with us for years and everybody in the neighbourhood knows him and he grew up among the community.”
With crime knocking on his door, Martinez said, “These are what you call wake-up calls that tell you and give you a story to listen that you have to do something more and, yes, I will be doing something more> I am very concerned. I never expected it here in this neighbourhood at all, so it really makes me feel uncomfortable.”
