Critically wounded Claxton Bay woman to miss colleague’s funeral

Peola Baptiste, the lone female survivor of Monday’s deadly robbery in La Romaine, will not attend a colleague’s funeral because she is still critically ill.

But relatives promised to be at Jeffrey Peters’s funeral on October 3 to bid a final farewell on her behalf.

Her daughter, Dianna Wellington, told Newsday on Friday: "We will be there to represent her. She is still in ICU. We know as a fact that she would not have missed it."

The mother of six, 57, from Claxton Bay, was still at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex on Friday with gunshot wounds. Baptiste, who works with Allied Security Ltd, is in critical condition.

Peters’ funeral is set for October 3 at 2 pm at the Laventille SDA Church. His body willd be taken to the Tunapuna Cemetery for burial.

Baptiste, Peters, 51, and another colleague, Jerry "Bat" Stuart, were ambushed and shot while transporting cash out of Pennywise Plaza at La Bel Air Road in La Romaine on Monday, shortly after 5 pm.

The police later killed four suspects in a shootout at a house in the area and recovered guns, bulletproof vests, and other items. The four were from Fyzabad.

On Friday, Stuart’s father, Moses Gibbons, told Newsday an autopsy was still to be done.

He said the family is planning the funeral tentatively for Thursday.

A release from Allied Security Ltd on Thursday said the company is helping with "funeral arrangements, immediate short-term needs and a multi-year assistance package."

Five people, including a soldier, 24, from Fyzabad, have been detained.