A Non Pareil family was last evening assaulted and left traumatized by three armed men who invaded a shop they operated at their home and then escaped with an undisclosed amount in cash, jewellery, cellular phones and household articles.
None of the bandits was apprehended as the police arrived at the scene some time later.
Ramrattan Ramsaroop, a businessman at Lot 78 Second Street, Non Pareil, East Coast Demerara, his wife Nazome Ali and their daughter Indira had to be taken to the Georgetown Hospital to seek medical attention for the numerous gun butts they received in their heads.
At the hospital, Ramsaroop told Stabroek News that he was standing by the gate when three masked men barged in on him. He stated that one was armed with a gun and the other two with cutlasses.
“They had on topes with holes cut out over the eyes. One come in first followed by the other two”.
He stated that the men roughly took him into the shop where they made their demands. His wife and two of his three children were there at the time.
“They start hollering, we come fuh de money”. The still visibly shaken Ramsaroop stated that he was hit several times in his head with a gun and the men threatened to shoot his son if their demands were not met. The man stated that he had no choice but to hand over the money, which was more than a day’s sale to the bandits. He said that the men then ransacked his home, taking jewellery and other articles with them. He said that the attack happened so quickly no one had time to react. Ramsaroop believes that the men might have escaped on a bicycle. According to him, the men may have hidden the said bicycle in a clump of grass some distance away.
When the men fled, he said the family raised an alarm and the police were later summoned.
He stated that he has been operating his shop for about three years and this is the first time that he has been robbed. His wife Nazome sustained wounds in her head while Indira has a small cut on her left eyebrow and wounds in her head.
Ramsaroop told this newspaper that the bandits slapped his son several times while demanding money.
This is the second robbery in this East Coast Demerara village in the last few days. On Saturday, Khemraj Ramdeo, a jeweller of 235 Section B, Non Pareil, was shot three times by two men. The men pretended that they were customers.
Reports are that Ramdeo was at the side of his house with his handyman when two men entered the yard and took some jewellery to him giving the impression that they were customers. However one of them grabbed a `big fat’ chain that he wears around the neck and told him to take it off. He refused to carry out the man’s wish and was shot in the left arm. The goldsmith was later shot in the abdomen and chest after he again refused to hand over his chain. The bandits then left empty-handed.
Ramdeo is presently hospitalised in the Intensive Care Unit of the Georgetown Hospital.
His wife Devika told this newspaper yesterday that he is doing much better.
