Penal shooting survivor still has bullet in head

A 21-year-old woman who survived a shooting which left her father dead still has a bullet in her head.

In August, Joyce Rahaman missed the funeral of 72-year-old Penal pensioner Harrilal "Lallbull" Jagroop. She was still warded at the San Fernando General Hospital (SFGH).

Owing to a rift, about two weeks after she was discharged, she moved out of the family’s home at Penal Rock Road, and has not contacted relatives since.

A relative told Newsday, "Joyce left about a month now, with a male friend.

"That was about two weeks after she came out of the hospital. She was shot in her left hand and head. The bullet is still in her head and doctors said if they operate, she would die.

"She has no phone and (the family) doesn’t know where she is staying."

The relative said the family has been hoping to "get more information" from Rahaman to help get closure. She is the mother of three, including a 16-month-old boy, who was in the house on the evening of the shooting. The child was not harmed, and his two siblings with other relatives.

One of Rahaman’s brothers said, "We want the truth, but because of the fallout, she left and took the child.

He said of his father that he "did not drink or lime. He smoked cigarettes, that is all. He was a cool man, and everybody knew him. He never harassed anybody."

Jagroop, the father of 17, died on August 3 at SFGH, two days after he was shot at his home at Batchiya Trace in Penal. Police said he was shot in the gallery and Rahaman in a bedroom where she was with her son. She crawled to the front of the house near the road, where a neighbour found her unconscious and bleeding. The child was nearby, smeared with her blood.

Shortly after the killing, police detained two men. They were released a few days later without any charges.

Police said the Homicide Bureau and Penal police are still investigating.