KEVON FELMINE
Ten weeks after surviving a horrific accident in which her father lost his right arm, two-year-old Candy Loubon was shot in the head while standing outside her Moruga home.
Up to late yesterday, surgeons at the San Fernando General Hospital were trying to remove a slug from the child's neck while her 31-year-old cousin Wendell Mike was also being treated for gunshot wounds to his head. Moruga police led by Cpl Ramsingh, Southern Division Task Force led by Cpl Ramdial and the Canine Unit were searching the forest for a 63-year-old male relative who fled after firing the shots with his home-made shot gun. The shotgun was recovered in nearby bushes.
Police said Mike and the relative had a long-standing dispute. It climaxed around 7 am yesterday when Mike went to a garden outside the suspect's home along the Penal Rock Road, Moruga. On seeing the suspect pick up his shotgun, Mike ran off. However, the suspect fired a shot and Mike was hit in the shoulder and temple.
Loubon, who was standing in the yard next door, was struck in the neck and left leg, which was damaged in September's accident. Mike's cousin Shane Lemo, 26, who was standing in the road, was also struck in the left leg. Paramedics were able to remove the slug, which was lodged just under his skin. The suspect ran off.
Candy's aunt Nicole Buchoon said the suspect and Mike had a dispute for many years. She said even when Mike visits his mother, he is chased away by the suspect.
On September 18, Candy, her father Jamie, 28, mother Cassie, 21 and siblings Emmanuel, four and Jamieson, one year, were injured when a T&T Regiment SUV crashed into their Nissan Sunny B-14. Doctors had to amputate the badly crushed arm of Jamie during emergency surgery. Candy suffered fractured limbs.
Buchoon said it was only a month ago that Candy was discharged from the hospital and she now walks with a limp.
"She is too small to be going through all these thing. I told them we need to keep a prayer," Buchoon said.