No charges yet for Candy’s shooter

SHARLENE RAMPERSAD

Police are yet to lay charges against the 63-year-old suspect who surrendered on Monday after two-year-old Candy Loubon was shot.

Head of the San Fernando CID Insp Don Gajadhar said yesterday he is waiting to review the case file, but interviews and statements have already been recorded.

Gajadhar said the file does not have to be sent to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions as his office can determine what charges can be laid.

Candy remains at the San Fernando Teaching Hospital. She was shot in the neck and leg during a domestic dispute between the suspect and her cousin Wendell Mike at their home in Moruga at about 6.30am on Saturday. Mike, 31, suffered head injuries and remains in hospital.

Candy was struck while standing near her mother Cassie Fonrose outside the family’s home. Pellets from the shotgun cartridge remain in the child’s body. Doctors decided not to perform surgery as the pellets are near a bone at the top of her spine and surgery could have left her paralysed.

Yesterday her father Jamie Loubon said although an x-ray done yesterday showed the pellets have not moved, doctors have cleared Candy to sit up and walk.

“She is sitting up, the doctors say she could go for a walk, but it’s like she doesn’t want to walk right now,” Loubon said. “She is feeling a lot better than she did before though. She is laughing and talking to me.”

He said his mind is at ease since the arrest of the suspect.

“I feel glad that they locked him up. Knowing he was outside was a worry for us.”

He said doctors have not told them how long Candy will have to remain at hospital.

“All we know for now is that they are not doing the surgery.” Fonrose spent yesterday morning giving a statement to investigators.