A Canje householder put up a fight, but was eventually beaten and robbed by armed bandits who broke into his home in the wee hours of Tuesday, and left his family traumatised.
Kalamadeen Khan of Lot 2 ‘B’ East Canefield Settlement, Canje told this newspaper that in the execution of the robbery the bandits threatened the life of his five-year-old son.
According to Khan, a gold jeweller who operates at the New Amsterdam Market, he was awakened around 2.30 am on Tuesday by the loud barking of his dogs in the yard. He said he got up and looked around, but did not see anything or anyone.
Khan returned to bed and was still awake when he heard a loud sound from his metal gate; as if someone was breaking it down. He told Stabroek News that he quickly got up and rushed to the door that leads to the verandah, where he came face to face with a masked man standing on his verandah looking through the glass at him.
Before he could react, he said, a second man appeared. They were both armed with cutlasses and Khan said he rushed back to his kitchen for his own cutlass. By the time he returned from the kitchen one of the bandits was chopping at the glass.
Khan said he brandished his cutlass and stood there watching, daring the bandits to come in. By this time, the glass was broken and the jeweller said one of the bandits attempted to gain entry to the house. “I fire one hard chop and ah sure ah catch he,” Khan said.
He said the second bandit just stood there looking at him and he decided to “fire one other chop” but missed. At the same time, the bandit swung an axe, hitting the cutlass out of the Khan’s hand.
Khan said he went back to the kitchen for a second cutlass but by the time he grabbed it the bandits had entered his home.
They then fired a shot piercing the wall and roof. Khan said he thought it was “a blank load” and kept advancing on the men with his cutlass.
On seeing this, one of them, using the same axe, hit him on his left temple, which caused him to fall to the ground. The other bandits then advanced, beating him with their cutlasses, and asking him “where de money deh?”
He told them he did not have any, and let them search his place. They did, and unearthed over $300,000. They then took two gold bands from his wife and still kept asking for more. He said the men then took his five-year-old son, put the axe on his neck, and threatened to chop it off if they did not get more money. However, they didn’t.
Eventually, after more beatings and more threats, the bandits left of their own accord. Khan said the incident lasted for about 30 to 45 minutes. Police arrived soon after and took statements from the Khans. They also recovered a 9 mm shell in Khan’s home.
There were visible scars, in the shape of a cutlass, on Khan’s back and thighs.
