-cash, jewels stolen
A 53-year-old businessman was shot twice when a band of armed men invaded his Mahaica home early yesterday morning unleashing terror for almost an hour as they rummaged for valuables.
Raajdeo Tahjpaul who sustained gunshot wounds to the right hand and left leg is a patient of the Georgetown Hospital and will have to undergo surgery to remove the bullet lodged in his hand. His condition is listed as stable.
His wife, Sumintra Hemwant, was left with black and blue bruises after she was mercilessly beaten by some of the bandits who were armed with cutlasses.
Up to press time last evening the police was still looking for the group of about seven men who stormed the Lot 33 Backdam Road, Unity, Mahaica residence around 2.30 am.
Police in a press release yesterday afternoon said that investigations so far reveal that Tahjpaul and his wife were outside in their yard as he was preparing to leave for work when they were confronted by the group, two of whom were armed with handguns and the others with cutlasses.
Tahjpaul, the release added was shot to his left leg and he and his wife were taken into the home which was ransacked by the men who are reported to have taken away $800,000 and a quantity of jewellery. The armed men then assaulted the two victims with their cutlasses and shot Tahjpaul to his right hand before escaping.
Police said that both victims were hospitalized but when Stabroek News visited the house a distraught Hemwant was there being questioned by the police. The woman later showed members of the media, bruises on her arm and back which were inflicted by the bandits. She also sustained a small cut above her left eye. According to her she had received treatment from the hospital for her injuries adding that the nurses there had treated them like “pigs”. She said that while she was concerned about the health of her husband, the safety of their nine-year-old daughter who had managed to flee to a neighbour’s house during the confusion was on her mind. She later left the institution for home, to check on the child.
A team of crime scene investigators and a tracker dog was dispatched from Georgetown to the area. This newspaper was told that the dog was taken into the thick bush behind the house through which the bandits fled but nothing was found.
Tahjpaul’s home is a few minutes walk from his neighbours and it is surrounded by bush and open land.
Despite her traumatized state, Hemwant explained that her husband buys greens from the Mahaica Creek and transports them to the Bourda Market. He has been doing this for about ten years and leaves home at three every morning.
The woman said that the attack was well planned as when her husband opened the front door to leave, the bandits pounced. She had earlier heard dogs barking.
She recalled that she was right behind, Tahjpaul, when he opened the door. She heard a gunshot followed by a squeal from her husband who fell to the floor. The woman said that she was so confused she immediately dashed for a nearby staircase to reach her daughter who was sleeping in a bedroom on the upper floor.
The frightened woman recalled hearing footsteps behind her and felt that it was the gunman and his accomplices entering the house. She said that her child had woken up during the ordeal and together they ran to the first bedroom which overlooked the road and started hollering for help. At some point the window was broken and there was shattered glass on the floor below.
Hemwant could not say how many bandits invaded her home but remembered seeing two gunmen – one armed with a long gun and the other with a silver gun. The latter was the gunman who shot her husband. “I jump up by de window and I start fuh holla fuh me neighbour dem but no bady nah come”, she said bursting into tears as she recounted how she was lashed about the body with cutlasses.
She said that the men then tumbled up all the bedrooms, the kitchen and other areas of the house before fleeing with the money her husband had to pay farmers with. A small amount of jewellery was also taken.
Before fleeing the men removed the battery from a bus but it is unclear why this was done since it was left behind. The telephone was also disconnected and a cell phone smashed to pieces by the bandits.
After realizing that the bandits had left after spending about three quarters of an hour in the house, Hemwant said that she went to the rescue of her husband who was bleeding profusely from his wounds. She said that he was not talking and she managed to pull him up the stairs and left him on the landing before running out to the roadway and hollering for help.
Screaming
The couple’s closest neighbour, Ravendra Surujdyal, said that he heard a gunshot followed by screaming but he did not go to investigate since his wife protested. The man said that the area is very dark at night. He said that about half an hour later, he heard, Hemwant running up the road screaming “Deh kill he, deh kill he”. Surujdyal said that he ran behind the frantic woman and later escorted her back to the house where the man was found at the top of the stairs bleeding. He said that they rushed him to the hospital.
Almost in tears, Hemwant told the media that neighbours tried desperately to make contact with the Mahaica Police Station but there was no response. Hours later ranks from the Cove and John and Mahaica Police Station turned up to investigate.
A thief had struck at the Lot 33 address about two weeks ago and according to the information reaching the Stabroek News, the police response was very slow.
While Hemwant stressed that she will move from her home, neighbours yesterday pleaded for more support from the ranks of the Mahaica Police Station. Surujdyal said that late last year there was a break and entry at his shop and the police came four days later to investigate.