–ignored barking dog’s warning
A Friendship, East Bank Demerara businessman considers himself lucky following a scuffle with bandits who invaded his home on Monday night.
Speaking to this newspaper yesterday at his Lot 2 Friendship Public Road home, 60-year-old Oudit Narine related that he first suspected something was amiss when his dog began barking.
Narine, who owns a trucking service, said that around 7.15 on Monday night he was preparing to view a 7.30 newscast on television when his dog began barking incessantly. He said this was unusual and he tried to pacify the agitated dog by giving him some food.
The man said the dog was chained to a truck parked in his yard and was looking in the direction of his backdoor while barking. Narine said he nevertheless settled down to watch the news and about midway through it, decided to go into his verandah to look at his dog. That was when he came face to face with three men, carrying “small guns” and wearing handkerchiefs concealing their faces.
He said he questioned the men regarding their presence in his yard and one of them fired a shot at him, hitting him just above his right hip, as he turned away to lock the door leading to his verandah. He said the tallest of the three men then climbed into the verandah and forced his way into his house.
The man said even though he felt some amount of pain; he fought with the man who was trying to open his front door. He said the bandit hit him several times about his body, even hitting him in his head with the gun in the process.
While this was happening, the businessman said, the two other bandits had already entered his home through the verandah and disconnected the telephone. He said the bandits demanded money from his wife and another relative who were in the house at the time along with a three-year-old girl. The men shoved the child in a corner of the living room and began assaulting his relatives as they ransacked his home, Narine related.
After a while, he said, he heard one of the bandits telling someone on a mobile phone: “we get what we want and we getting out of here”.
He said the bandits then calmly walked out of the yard, firing several shots in the air as neighbours gathered to see what was happening.
Narine believes the bandits were already in his yard earlier that evening while his dog was barking and may have been attempting to enter his house through his back door, since his dog was looking in that direction while barking.
The entire ordeal lasted approximately 45 minutes and according to the businessman the bandits took a quantity of jewellery worth approximately $2.8 million from his home.
The matter was reported to the Grove Police Station and the police arrived on the scene shortly after the robbery and began their investigations, the businessman related.
Stating that it was the first time he was robbed, he called on the authorities to be more proactive as it relates to security of citizens.
Persons nearby told this newspaper yesterday that the men entered a car which was parked close to a koker on the Friendship Public Road some distance away from the scene of the robbery and made good their escape heading in the direction of Georgetown. They said the car was seen passing the businessman’s residence at least three times, earlier that evening.
Following the robbery, Narine and his relatives were taken to the Diamond Diagnostic Centre where he received a few stitches for the gunshot wound he sustained. His relatives suffered mild injuries and he told this newspaper that he was experiencing a slight pain in his right side whenever he breathes. The man said he will be seeking further medical attention for the injury.
At his home yesterday, the businessman showed this reporter the wound in his right side where the bullet entered and exited the area above his right hip. He also pointed to a hole in the wall from which the police retrieved a bullet on Tuesday. The man said the police also dusted several parts of his home yesterday for fingerprints but were unable to obtain any.
