Three armed bandits terrorised a family at Number 79 Village, Corriverton for about an hour before grabbing cash and gold jewellery around 2.30 am yesterday, after faking a fire in the house so the owner could open his sealed bedroom.
Vernon Vishnu told Stabroek News that he was alerted to the smell of smoke coming from his living room and immediately opened his bedroom door to check, only to be confronted by the armed bandits.
They had gained access to the building after one of their accomplices used a table to climb up to the kitchen window and prised open the metal grillwork. After entering, he opened the door for the others.
Realizing that they could not get further because the rooms were sealed, the bandits tricked the unsuspecting Vishnu by setting a floor mat and curtains alight.
He said the men gun-butted him several times in his head while demanding cash and jewellery. He took them to his bedroom and handed over all he had but the bandits were not satisfied and continued to beat him. They also slapped his wife, Shanta and pulled her hair.
They then ordered the couple to show them where the children’s bedroom was. One of the bandits pointed a gun to his 15-year-old son’s head, forcing him to tell them where the money is and after he insisted that he did not know they dealt him a blow to his head.
In the ordeal, which lasted one hour, the bandits also fired a shot in the two children’s bedroom and bound everyone with tape before escaping.
Vishnu said they were traumatized by the incident and needed to visit the doctor for the injuries they suffered. But he is grateful that his four-year-son remained calm as he looked on at what the rest of the family had to endure.
The bandits who had cut the telephone wires also made off with a high-tech cordless phone, a Motorola cell phone, a video camera, cigarettes and important documents including the house transport and passports.
He is pleading with the bandits to return his documents, which he said would be of no use to them.
