Two persons have been arrested in connection with the Gay Park, Greater New Amsterdam robbery on Monday evening which left 34-year-old Mohanie Latiff nursing gunshot and chop wounds at the NA Hospital.
Police combed the backlands the same evening after receiving reports that the bandits had escaped in that direction and managed to nab the two. They are also looking for two other persons.
When this newspaper spoke to Mohanie Latiff at the hospital yesterday close relatives and friends had gathered and were helping to feed her. Her husband, Harold said that six pellets had been lodged in each of her thighs.
She was also chopped on her left hand, the palm of her right hand and shoulder while “brands” from the cutlass were imprinted on her face, back and about her body. Harold said her condition seemed to be improving.
He said the bandits took away a large quantity of gold jewellery valued more than $500,000 and a small amount of cash. The entire house was ransacked and left in a mess with blood splattered all over.
The man who works on a cargo ship, told this newspaper that he was about to leave the airport to go home when he got a call about what transpired.
Speaking in a faint tone, Latiff told this newspaper she was feeling better although the terrible ordeal she went through was still haunting her.
Recalling the events of the horrible night, the woman said from the time the bandits entered the house they started to beat her severely about her body with the cutlass.
They then stripped her of the jewellery she was wearing and proceeded to chop her while dragging her around the house, demanding that she hand over all the money and jewellery. She barred with her hands as they swung the cutlasses at her.
With blood oozing from her wounds which left traces all around the house, the woman led the bandits to where the money and jewellery were kept.
However they were not satisfied and fired the shots at her, forcing her to “find” more… They then escaped in the direction of the backlands with their booty, including two cell phones.
Latiff was cooking at the time when the men barged in and started attacking her. Before that her 15-year-old son, Andy who was rocking his one-year-old sister in a hammock on the porch saw four of the bandits rushing into the yard with cutlasses. He said he immediately grabbed his sister and ran off the porch.
Speaking to this newspaper last evening, the traumatized lad said he did not realize another bandit had a gun until he started firing shots in his direction.
He nevertheless kept on running while ‘ducking’ from the bullets which missed him and his sister narrowly.
From his hiding place in the yard he heard the loud sounds of the cutlasses as the bandits were terrorizing his mother who was screaming hysterically.
After the bandits left, neighbours who heard the gunshots and hid in their homes, terrified, ran to Latiff’s assistance and rushed her to the hospital where she underwent emergency surgery.
