Troy
Dick, accomplice killed after $8M heist
-AK-47
assault rifle, revolver
recovered
By
Michael Jordan
Notorious escapee Troy
Dick and a 34-year-old accomplice
were shot dead at around 09:30hrs yesterday, just
a few minutes after carrying out a brazen $8M
heist in Regent Street .

Police said that Dick, the last of the
surviving escapees from the February 2002
jailbreak, was killed in Norton Street while
attempting to hijack a car.
His accomplice, Colin Jacobs, also called Paul
Lynch, of Globe Yard, Waterloo Street ,
was cornered and killed in a yard in Hardina
Street .

AK-47
rifle
At the time of his demise Dick was armed with
an AK-47 rifle, with the butt sawn off, along with
four magazines and a quantity of matching live
rounds.
Lynch was said to be armed with an unlicensed
.38 snub nose revolver.
Police said that Kwame Patterson, 33, of
Prospect, East Bank Demerara, who was in a motor
car, was shot in the right knee during the
exchange of gunfire between the bandits and
police.
He was treated at the Georgetown Hospital .
However, a third bandit who fled with Dick and
Lynch to Hardina Street managed to escape.
Kaieteur News understands that police ranks
have recovered a shoe-box containing $1M, which
was part of the money that the gang had snatched
from 33-year-old moneychanger Ashraf Alli near the
Discount Store in Regent Street.
The drama began at around 09:30hrs, when Alli
came out of the Discount Store with around $7M in
a haversack and another $1M in a shoe-box.
As Alli was about to enter his car, he was
confronted by two men who pointed a handgun at him
and ordered him to hand over the cash.
Alli, who had a licensed firearm, refused to
hand over his money and a struggle ensued between
the moneychanger and the bandits for the
haversack.
The bandit with the gun responded by firing
shots in the air and the two robbers eventually
overpowered Alli and fled south into Wellington
Street with the loot, shooting as they ran.
Police said that the men then joined a car, in
which Dick and Jacobs were reportedly waiting.
Kaieteur News understands that an off-duty
policeman who had witnessed the robbery contacted
his colleagues, who immediately set off in pursuit
of the robbers.
The bandits, with the police hot on their
heels, headed for Hardina Street , where they
abandoned their car, apparently to throw the
police off their trail.
That proved to be their undoing.
Kaieteur News understands that Jacobs and
another bandit then attempted to hijack a car.
Andy Watson, a resident of the area, said that
he was cleaning a relative's car in Hardina Street
when he saw “two
Rasta men and a red man” running
towards him.
“They come running breathless and I thought
that was taxi they want,” he said.
“When they reach me they ask: ‘Who driving
this taxi?'
“I say that the driver upstairs. They point
guns at me and say drive or we gun shoot,” a
shaken Watson recalled.
“I say that I can't drive and beg them not to
shoot me.”
Fortunately for Watson, the police arrived on
the scene shortly after.
Eyewitnesses said that on seeing the police,
Jacobs fled into a yard in Hardina Street , where
he was pursued and shot.
Jacobs reportedly spoke to the ranks before he
died.
Meanwhile, Troy Dick, who was armed with an AK
47 rifle, fled into Norton Street .
A female resident said that she was in her yard
when she saw a man with dreadlocks and an AK 47
rifle running in a nearby yard.
She said that the bandit then entered a car
that was parked in Norton Street . It was then
that gunshots rang out and the bandit, identified
as Troy Dick, slumped in the seat, with a bullet
wound to the head.
Police ranks then placed the two dead bandits
in a vehicle and took the bodies to the Georgetown
Hospital .
Police later confirmed that one of the slain
gunmen was indeed Troy Dick.
At around 17:00hrs yesterday, police returned
to Norton Street where they surrounded and
searched a house after receiving information that
one of the gunmen who had escaped was hiding
there.
However, the gunman was not found.
Troy Dick, along with Dale Moore, Shawn Brown,
Andrew Douglas and Mark Fraser, escaped from the
Georgetown Prisons on February 23, 2002, after
killing prison officer Troy Williams and severely
wounding his colleague, Roxanne Winfield.
Their escape triggered an unprecedented crime
wave in which several policemen and civilians were
slain.
At the time of his death, Dick was wanted by
the police for a number of criminal matters
including the murder of Minister of Agriculture
Satyadeow Sawh, his brother Rajpat Rai, sister
Phulmattie Persaud, and a security guard.
Collin Jacobs was charged along with six other
men in connection with robberies at two Regent
Street stores on April 13 last.
He never attended court to answer the charges.
Saturday
09-30-2006