Alleged repeat offender shot dead while robbing policeman

Last Updated on Monday, 5 January 2015, 2:48 by GxMedia

A man, charged several times for robbery under arms, was Sunday night shot dead by a plain clothes policeman who he and two accomplices robbed of gold jewellery at Soesdyke, East Bank Demerara.

Dead is Ryan Couchman, 34, of Diamond, East Bank Demerara. The beaten policeman was treated at the Diamond Diagnostic Centre.

The two other perpetrators fled the scene, police said.

Investigators appeared to suggest that the policeman exercised restraint and only fired after he was being repeatedly assaulted by the robbers. “During the robbery the policeman, who was being repeatedly assaulted by the perpetrators, discharged a round which fatally wounded one of the men,” Guyana Police Force spokesman Ivelaw Whittaker said in a statement.

Police said that Couchman is known to the police and has been previously charged on a number of occasions for robbery under arms.

Couchman’s publicly known criminal record dates back to 2008 when he was accused of a gunpoint robbery.