A man, suffering from acid burns about the body, was last evening under police guard at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH), after he was suspected of being involved in robbing an East Bank Demerara (EBD) goldsmith early yesterday morning.
According to the police, around 3 am yesterday, 34–year-old Navinash Dhanraj of Pearl, EBD, was confronted by three men armed with guns and the men proceeded to hit him about his body with the firearms and later escaped with a portable DVD player and $28,000.
The three men had also gone to another house which is situated on the same premises, the police stated, and attempted to gain entry to the home during which acid was thrown on one of the perpetrators and they all ran away. Late yesterday afternoon, the police were informed that a man suspected to be suffering from acid burns about the body was seeking medical attention at the GPH and he was later admitted a patient under guard at the hospital.
A traumatized Dhanraj told this newspaper last evening that he was asleep, when he heard a commotion in the living room of his single-flat home.
The goldsmith said that he then heard a “stamping” sound on his bedroom door, following which the door “swing open” and three men armed with guns proceeded to hit him about his body. He said the men were all masked, one carried a shot-gun and the others carried small guns.
Dhanraj said the men threw him to the floor and demanded money and jewellery, and during the ordeal, which lasted some 10 minutes, one of the men hit him in the head with the barrel of the gun, inflicting two gaping wounds.
He said the men relieved him of two gold chains and cash and later proceeded to his parents’ home, situated at the front of the yard.
During this time, the man stated, his parents and neighbours shouted out ‘thief!’, as the men clambered onto a garage at the side of his parents’ top flat home to gain entry through the side windows of the house.
The man said the men hurled expletives as they smashed the windows of his parents’ home, and according to him, he continued to call out for ‘thief!’ and later called out to a cousin who lives nearby “to bring out the gun”. It was during this that a bottle of acid was thrown on the attackers.
He said the men ran out of the yard, and one of them appeared to cry out in pain.
Last evening several police officers were at the GPH grilling the suspect who was being treated in the Accident and Emergency Unit of the hospital and he was later escorted to the Male Ward of the medical institution by a police officer. Police sources told this newspaper last evening that another suspect was being questioned in relation to the robbery.
