A heavily pregnant woman fell into a trench as she fled from three gunmen who stormed her Number Two, Canje home and terrorized and robbed family members of $5M in cash and jewellery.
The pregnant woman, Vannie, who was still shaken when Stabroek News visited yesterday, had to be treated by a doctor after the incident. The gunmen had also dealt the owner of the house, Omawattie Samaroo, 28, a severe beating; gun butting her to her head and to other parts of her body while another occupant, Kamla, barely escaped being shot after she “ducked” when the bandits fired in her direction. A fourth occupant of the home, Jermaine Murray, was also beaten and “choked.”
In relating the incident Vannie said she was in the kitchen cooking roti around 8 pm when the bandits entered through the back door and passed without noticing her. She said she saw when they stuck up the other occupants and she started to “tremble” and decided to run through the back street and shout for help. “While I was running me feet get weak and ah fall two times on the dam and one time in the trench,” at the shallow end, she said. The woman said she asked a neighbour to allow her to make a telephone call but the woman said she did not have a phone. Vannie said she then ran a little farther and a woman allowed her to make a call but “If ah de get the phone call right away, the police woulda catch the bandits because dem reach fast.”
Samaroo said she and two other relatives, Ceon and Kamla, were watching television when Ceon said he heard a sound at the gate so she sent Murray to close the gate. Murray said as he was closing the gate he raised his head and came face-to-face with the gunmen. “One bandit pointed a gun to me head and choked me and tell me to lie on the floor. He tell me don’t holler or he gon kill me. But when he slack off from me neck me start fuh holler and he hit me in meh face with the gun,” Murray recounted.
The man said Ceon came to the front door, which was locked, and asked him what was the matter but he could not respond. Murray said the bandits then dragged him to the back of the house where they barged through the open kitchen door. He said they then held Samaroo at gunpoint and demanded cash and jewellery, while they ordered Ceon and Kamla to lie on the floor. The gunmen then ripped off 12 pairs of gold bangles, weighing 22 pennyweight each, from Samaroo’s hands.
They then demanded more cash and jewellery and broke open a wardrobe in the upper flat of the house, stealing a few diamond rings and other items. The bandits also found $45,000 but they were not satisfied and one of them pushed Samaroo’s head onto the bed and “stifle me with the pillow….”
The gunmen then put a gun to Kamla’s head and threatened “to shoot she if me don’t give them more money. They fire two shots at her but she ducked, Samaroo said. The woman said, “Me tell them me don’t have more money but me have a cheque [that was in Vannie’s possession] ah could give them.” Samaroo said it was at this stage that she realized that Vannie had fled and she became worried. “When ah call Vannie to bring the cheque she was nowhere around and maybe that caused the bandits to rush out faster because they suspect she would call the police.” Samaroo said “In the space of 15 minutes they done do all this damage
