Bandits invade Vergenoegen residence
Woman shot dead, sawmiller critical
By Kim Lucas
A huge gang of heavily-armed river-borne bandits shot and killed the wife of sawmiller Hilton Ng-See-Quan early yesterday morning and seriously injured him when they stormed the couple’s East Bank Essequibo home in the latest abomination in the crime wave.
In the wake of the shooting, the army yesterday announced that it had intensified patrols along the coast, widening the scope of Operation Tourniquet from the East Coast Demerara.
Reports reaching Stabroek News stated that 60-year-old Claudette Ng-See-Quan succumbed on the way to the West Demerara Regional Hospital. Hilton Ng-See-Quan, 64, a former PNC/R MP was reportedly shot in the leg and abdomen and is hospitalised in the city. Up to last night his condition was listed as stable. He was conscious and breathing on his own.
The man’s cousin, Glenn Whyte, told reporters yesterday that, based on what Ng-See-Quan had told him, about five of the bandits stormed the Quan Street business/residence at about 0125 hrs yesterday, while discharging several rounds.
“It was like Afghanistan and America… with shots firing all around,” one of the couple’s employees interjected. At the time of the attack, only the Ng-See-Quans were occupying the place. The bandits reportedly scaled the nine-foot, fortress-like fence surrounding the riverside property and shot dead one of nine guard dogs before blazing their way into the house.
“A lot of things [were] taken from the home and a lot of things damage up. Everything damage up,” the employee said. Both he and Whyte said that the bandits kept firing shots, which kept neighbours from going to the couple’s rescue. “Is only when they hear the speedboat pull off, then they come out.” one of the men reported.
The police said over $400,000 in cash, along with a 12-gauge shotgun and two pistols – one a 9 mm and the other, a .32 – were stolen. In their escape bid, the bandits also tried to hijack a 35-foot fishing boat, which was moored nearby. Instead, they carted off a $500,000 15 horsepower Yamaha engine belonging to Deonarine Boodwah called ‘Shammie’ after the boat got stuck.
Shammie had just returned from seven-day fishing expedition.
Recounting the horrifying experience yesterday, Boodwah’s 28-year-old son-in-law, James Reginald Lloyd, said he, Boodwah and another man, identified only as Baldeo or ‘Awoo’ had just returned from sea and were in the cabin of the boat when they heard gunshots.
“We hear some gunshots. After the gunshots, my father-in-law and the next guy decide to peep out. When they peep out, two gunman deh right side de boat. All I see is two gun point and [the bandits] say, ‘Stay back inside and turn pon yuh face’,” Lloyd said. He recalled hearing more gunshots as they were lying face-down.
“They [the bandits] say, ‘Don’t move’ and they tek a good time. Two of them guard we for about 20 to 30 minutes,” the young man stated. He said the men threatened to kill them if they said anything.
“After that, they come and they cut all two of the boat ropes and then they tell we ‘Drive! This boat got to reach Essequibo tonight’ and after that, all what we hear while inside, is a next boat come brace the boat,” Lloyd said.
According to him, two of the bandits debated whether or not to take Boodwah’s engine. He said one of the attackers threatened to shoot the boat, called Lyn B.
“When me peep out, I see about 12 to 15 men coming towards we boat. They tell me come outside fuh go and loose the rope. When me come outside and me stand up, me see they running coming from the sawmill direction.”
Lloyd said that although the men wore no masks, he could not recognise them, because the place was dark. “Some of them got on l’il stocking on they head,” he offered. The young fisherman said the Lyn B got stuck on a sandbank after he cut the ropes, forcing the bandits to flee in what sounded like a speedboat.
“When we drive out on the sandbank, they [the bandits] say, ‘You all get in’. They didn’t want no driver, they say they gon drive, and the next boat come at the side and then all of them jump in… they collect the engine and they drive away,” Lloyd stated.
But the young man said after the bandits left, they had to contend with the police, who mistook them for the robbers.
“When they cut the boat and lef and we pulling the boat back in, we hear two gunshot fire and then the police holler, ‘Fisherman?’ and we said ‘Yes…wait, wait we coming’. Me never experience this thing in me life,” said Lloyd.
He said, though, that one of the bandits seemed “kind.”
“He say, ‘You all doan tek worries, stay cool and everything gon be okay’
One theory for the robbery of the Ng-See-Quans was that the bandits somehow got word of a weekly transaction.
An official of the Guyana Defence Force Public Relations Department told Stabroek News that its Coast Guard arm had not known of the attack and river escape. But because of the incident, the army’s boats will be patrolling the coast at regular intervals, he said.
Just four years ago, Ng- See-Quan, in an interview for ‘Window on Guyana’, told Stabroek News that he couldn’t picture himself living anywhere but in Guyana, and specifically Quan Street, which was named after his father, Benjamin Quan. He had described the area as being “very peaceful and quiet.”
The Vergenoegen sawmill was a family business and formerly owned by Ng-See- Quan’s father and his father’s siblings. His father later bought all the shares in the business and passed it on to his children. But after the old man’s death, Ng-See-Quan’s relatives migrated.
Hilton Ng-See-Quan, like his father, bought his siblings’ shares and gained full control on March 3, 1989. He and his wife had two children – a son and a daughter – but the son reportedly died by accident some years ago. The daughter is said to be residing abroad. Ng-See-Quan had been a PNC/R MP after the 1992 elections but switched his support to the PPP/C in the run up to the 1997 polls.
The Forest Products Association yesterday offered its condolences and sympathy to the Ng-See-Quan family on the attack.
The attack is the latest in the crime spree which gripped the country following the February 23 escape of five men from the Georgetown Prisons. The government has come under increasing pressure to counter the explosion in crime and last week President Bharrat Jagdeo announced a menu of measures including extra money for the Guyana Police Force.
