Delirious wife waits in rain for return of dead husband

SENIOR shift supervisor McKenzie Odai, 60, was shot at Ghany’s Service Station in Curepe and later died on the operating table at the Priority Care Facility of the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex. His shocked wife, Sheila, who was at his bedside when he died, waited patiently at the front gate in the rain for his return. “Daddy coming home just now; why all these people in my house? He just resting, somebody shoot him but he will be home just now,” she kept repeating. The senior shift supervisor, who works the 6 am to 2 pm shift, normally returns at 3 pm.

Odai, whom she fondly calls “daddy,” was shot by a man who entered the gas station office at around 9.10 am and demanded the money from the morning sales. He then shot the ground shift operator, Andre Lutchman, 31, in his back. Lutchman was able to escape to the Maggie Flowershop on the same compound. The gunman subsequently shot Odai in his back and chest. Pump attendant, John Hallet, 48, who responded to the four shots, was beaten with a gun butt as the gunman coolly walked out of the station. All three were rushed to the EWMSC where Odai died with Sheila at his bedside. Lutchman was warded, and is to be operated on today to remove the bullet.

Hallet has been treated and discharged, and has since gone into hiding because of fears for his life. The father of three, who worked nearly all his life at the gas station, was looking after the books upstairs, when he came downstairs to assist rookie supervisor Lutchman with a tanker of gas that came in. The two had just finished their project and had returned to the office to wash up when the incident took place. One eyewitness told Newsday he heard four shots, one of which flew past Lutchman. On closer inspection, he saw the man with a gun so he ran for police. When he returned he saw Odai on the ground bleeding through his mouth.

Workers at the flowershop said they heard a shot just before Lutchman ran into the store and raised his shirt to show them the bullet wound.  They then heard three more shots. Realising Lutchman was shot, they called the ambulance, then ventured outside where they found Odai and Hallet lying on the ground. When Newsday visited Odai’s home at Perseverance Road in Petit Bourg,  relatives had to restrain his wife from running away to wait for Odai. She was eventually allowed to stand in the rain and wait, but under close observation. Investigations revealed that the gas station owned by Arnim Ghany was robbed several times in the past. Late last year, Ghany was robbed of cash and his licenced revolver. Ag Sgt Worrel is investigating.