A Mon Repos butcher was bound and gagged for some three hours on Tuesday night while three bandits tumbled his house before escaping with his motor vehicle, cash and other valuables. His intact car was later recovered in an East Bank Demerara village.
Nazim Alli of Lot 63 Mon Repos South, East Coast Demerara managed to free himself after the men left. He then telephoned a relative for help.
Police said in a press release that an investigation has been launched into an armed robbery that occurred at about 21:15 hours during which butcher Alli was attacked and robbed by three men, one of the whom was armed with a handgun.
Investigations revealed that Alli was awakened by the men who had broken into his home and tied him up, police said adding, that the perpetrators ransacked the home and took away a quantity of jewellery, $87, 000 cash after which they escaped in the victim’s motor car.
Stabroek News was later told that the men also fled with $300 US, $100TT and two cellular phones.
When this newspaper spoke with Alli he was still visibly shaken but managed to recount his horrific experience.
He recalled that he returned home around 8:30 pm and later dozed off in front of the television. Alli who was alone at the time said that around 10:00 pm he woke up “after ah feel a shadow over meh”. The shadow was actually a gunman with his white t shirt pulled over his nose.
Alli told this newspaper that he started to holler but the gunman told him to “shut me mouth and lay down on the floor”.
The gunman according to the man’s accounts gained entry into his home by climbing onto the veranda from an outside staircase. The gunman then pushed open a slightly ajar glass door and stepped into the living room area where Alli was asleep.
Alli stated that the gunman used some scotch tape that he had nearby to bind his hands and feet. Shortly after, the gunman was joined by two accomplices. Alli recalled one of the accomplices telling the gunman to bring some else to bound him since “de tape gon loose out”.
It was at this point that the gunman removed laces from several pairs of boots that were on the inside stair case and used them to tie his hands a second time.
The man said that the bandits even taped up his mouth before demanding that he hand over valuables. The terrified butcher said he immediately revealed the location of some money he had hidden in his room.
However the bandits were not contented with the amount that they had found and kept insisting that they wanted more.
Alli said amidst threats, he told the men that that was all he had.
The men then ransacked the house and even searched the toilet tank before removing car keys and other valuables from a table in the living home.
The butcher said that he heard when his Silver grey Toyota Ram bearing number plate PMM 713 was being driven out of the yard.
He told this newspaper that he was unable to holler for help because his mouth was taped up,
According to Alli after the men left, he tugged at the scotch tape on his ankles until the tape was slack. He then hopped and waddled to the kitchen area where he found a pair of scissors which he used to free himself.
He said he immediately telephoned his uncle and the police arrived around 2 am. Alli noted that police made no attempts to find fingerprints on the scene but instead took a statement from him.
At the time this newspaper spoke with Alli, he said that he had heard that his car was found on the East Bank but police had not contacted him.
The man said that he grew up in the Mon Repos area and this is the first robbery he has experienced.
Meanwhile one of the men’s relatives told this newspaper that had the police responded quickly the bandits could have been captured.
He said that the punishment for certain crimes should be harsher adding that citizens need protection.
