Reporter charged with attempted murder
CHRONICLE reporter Sharon Lall was yesterday charged with attempting to murder the pilot of a light aircraft in which she was a passenger. Lall, 21, of Railway Line, Kitty, Georgetown, was also charged with attempting to kill a fellow passenger.
She was still under police guard at the Georgetown Hospital and did not appear before Chief Magistrate Paul Fung-a-Fat to answer the charges.
She was refused bail.
Lall, Surinamese-born, was ordered to remain in the custody of the police at the hospital while both her Surname and Guyana passports are to be confiscated by the state.
Mr Fung-A-Fat made the decision after the reporter's attorney-at-law, Ms Priya Manichand told the court that her client was suffering from clinical depression.
The Chief Magistrate commented that the accused was "suffering from a broken heart."
Lall is accused of attempting to kill pilot Yacoob Mazaharally, 24, and Vydia Gorray, 45, who along with her nine-year-old daughter were also on board the Cessna four-seat aircraft on Monday afternoon.
Shortly after the aircraft left the Ogle airstrip, East Coast Demerara for Spring Gardens on the Essequibo Coast, Lall allegedly began stabbing Mazaharally with a knife on his neck and shoulders.
Police said Gooray tried to restrain Lall and was cut on her right hand.
Mazaharally managed to turn the aircraft back and landed safely at the Ogle airstrip.
He was rushed to hospital where he was reported recovering yesterday.
Gooray was also hospitalised.
The case will be called up on February 12 at the Vreed-en-Hoop Magistrate's court, West Coast Demerara.
Lall was the Chronicle's reporter of the year and runner-up worker of the year last year.
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