The bandits who seemed bent on having the JVC camera gun-butted the magistrate on her head and face, causing her to suffer swellings and tore her shirt. They also robbed her of her gold jewellery including a diamond wedding band, bracelet and necklace, a laptop computer, a dual SIM cellular phone and $15,000 cash.
Also in the car was the magistrate’s baby, Simran and her babysitter, Sarita Hardat who was also relieved of her jewellery. The shaken babysitter was also forced to remove a gold chain the baby was wearing and handed it over to the gunmen.
Though terrified, the women wrestled with the bandits. The magistrate managed to rip off a mask from one of the bandits while Hardat broke a pair of sunglasses another bandit was wearing. The items were handed over to the police at the Mahaicony Police Station.
Magistrate Chandan-Persid Edmond was returning to her Number Six Village, West Berbice home after presiding at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court where she has been assigned since November 2, when she was attacked.
She told this newspaper that while in the vicinity of Novar, Mahaicony she noticed a dark blue AT 212 Toyota Carina motorcar approaching in the opposite direction and the occupants were pointing at her.
The car then made a sudden turn and started to trail her before the men finally manage to overtake her. She said she became suspicious and tried to pass the car but they started to drive in a “zig zag manner.”
As they approached Letter ‘T’, a desolate area, the car came to an abrupt halt, blocking her path. She almost slammed into the back of the car and was forced to stop. She attempted to reverse her vehicle but the men exited the car.
They pointed the guns at her windows, which were up, and demanded that she roll them down and she complied.
The men who said they were “looking for me for a long time” kept asking for the [expletives] camera and also told her to “pass the money.” They also ransacked the vehicle and found the camera as well as the other items.
She observed that the bandits’ vehicle bore two number plates, the front carrying HB 3317 and at the back there was a PKK number.
Chandan-Persid Edmond said she did not wish to comment on why the men may have been looking specifically for the camera. However her husband, attorney-at-law Joel Persid Edmond suggested that it was probably because persons may have seen them using them using the gadget when they stop to take “a lot of footage” while travelling.
Meanwhile, the magistrate had phoned her husband from the time she noticed the suspicious movements by the bandits and he immediately left Berbice in the company of friends to catch up with her.
After the robbery she used another phone she had in the car and called her husband again. The Mahaicony Police Station was informed about the robbery and ranks promised to set up a roadblock. However, Edmond said when they got there they did not see any roadblock and the police said it was farther down the road. He said if indeed there was a barrier it should have been set up at the junction.
Edmond had told his wife to leave the area immediately and met her at Foulis, West Berbice. He had dropped in at the Weldaad Police Station before being sent to the Mahaicony station instead.
In the meantime the magistrate who was complaining of a severe headache, said she was “in no position to go to work” today. She was also concerned for her safety and said she needs protection as their lives could have been lost.
She said her baby travels to Georgetown with her every day.
In July this year, a prisoner had thrown a book at Magistrate Chandan in a Berbice courtroom and concerns were raised about the security of judicial officials.
Fears for the safety of magistrates were also voiced prior to this when in April this year Magistrate Nigel Hawke and his wife were attacked at their home.
Magistrate Hawke was tied, gagged and left on his bathroom floor as a robber armed with an AK-47 reigned terror in his Non Pareil home for approximately 45 minutes.
As the magistrate struggled to free hands tightly bound behind his back, the bandit escorted his wife, attorney-at-law Donelle Hawke, around their home in search of cash, jewellery and other valuables.
