A large gang of armed masked men invaded a Corriverton home on Sunday night, beating occupants mercilessly in a five-minute ordeal before escaping with cash and jewellery.
According to the police, the men raided businessman Eric Ramkishun’s residence around 22:15 hrs on Sunday.
Ramkishun, 54, of Main Street, Corriverton, operates a grocery shop, liquor restaurant and internet cafe on the ground floor of his two-storey building.
Speaking to Stabroek News via telephone yesterday, Ramkishun related the harrowing events of Sunday. At 21:45 hrs, he said, he closed his business and made his way upstairs to have dinner and watch television. Downstairs, his wife Patricia Ramkishun, 49, was in the kitchen of the shop, “packing up the freezer”.
His two sons, daughter-in-law and regular patrons of his business were outside “hanging out.” Some time later, he related, one of his sons and daughter-in-law joined the mother in the kitchen, leaving the others outside. “Then my wife said she heard a commotion like people fighting and she send the daughter-in-law to see,” he said. According to Ramkishun, when his daughter-in-law opened the door to see what the commotion was “there was a gun in her face, a very big gun!
The persons who were outside were on the ground lying face down.”
At this point, he said his daughter-in-law and son ran upstairs and “tell me bandit and I left my food and ran in my room and bolt up. And my son and daughter-in-law ran in them room and bolt up.” The wife, meanwhile, remain-ed downstairs. Ramkishun said that his wife, who has a “bad foot,” tried to close the kitchen door but was too slow and the armed men descended on her. “They start harass her. It was five ah them.”
While in his room, Ramkishun called the police. The robbers, meanwhile, forced his wife upstairs, kicked down the door to his son and daughter-in-law’s room and ordered them out, at gun-point, while demanding gold. “She [the daughter-in-law] told them things deh downstairs,” Ramkishun said. All the while he was in his room.
The robbers then took his wife, son and daughter-in-law downstairs, where the wife showed them to some $60,000 hidden in a plastic barrel. However, the robbers demanded more and were then taken to the shop’s register, where even more money was bagged.
Ramkishun said that in all the bandits took some $100,000 along with jewellery, for which he could not estimate value. His wife was assaulted by the robbers, who he said dragged her down the stairs after slapping her and she was subsequently hospitalised at the Skeldon Hospital.
While in the shop, Ramkishun’s son was also assaulted by the robbers. Ramkishun said his son told him that one of the armed robbers beat him with the gun.
Ramkishun speculated that there was a lookout, since one of the men holding his family captive in the shop received a phone call and after hanging up ordered the others to leave. The men then made good their escape on foot. Soon after they left, the police arrived, but were unable to capture any of the bandits. According to the police, there were seven armed men involved in the robbery.
Ramkishun said that this is not the first time that his business has been robbed. But it is the first time that robbers have attacked his family. He said that he was robbed on three previous occasions but his home upstairs was never invaded. He said the robbers, on those previous occasions, told him not to call the police and in return they would not enter his home upstairs. He said that he relented and left them to rob the store.
However, on this occasion he believed that if not for the police, the outcome would have been worse. “I’m very grateful for the police response. Something worse coulda happen and I’m very thankful to them,” he said.
