Armed bandits broke into the home of a 58-year-old woman at Number Five Village, West Coast Berbice around 3:45 am on Monday and carted off $250,000 in cash and jewellery, a laptop computer and two cellular phones.
A suspect from the village has since been taken into custody and is assisting with investigations. On Monday, Bhagmatttie called ‘Bhago’ and her granddaughter, Amrita, 17, were still traumatized over the robbery.
One of the bandits whose face was covered with a white cloth entered the house by smashing the glass window in the washroom at the back while his accomplice kept watch in the yard. The window has since been sealed up.
Amrita who was fast asleep related to Stabroek News that she became aware of a shadow over her and awoke to find the bandit pointing a gun at her. He had already pulled up her mosquito net.
Her loud screams alerted her grandmother who ran over from the other room to investigate. She too started to scream loudly and this angered the bandit. He asked them “why y’all screaming?” and hit them on their heads with the gun butt.
He shouted at the woman “whey all de money dey? Gimme all the money.”
Fearing for her life, Bhagmattie went into her room and returned with $150,000.
The bandit also demanded jewellery and managed to escape with a quantity worth $100,000 and the other articles.
As the bandit was leaving he warned them not to scream “or ah gon shoot.” He fled through the backdoor which he had opened upon entering the house.
Meanwhile, neighbours, after hearing the screams contacted the police who arrived promptly but the two bandits had already escaped on foot.
A resident told this newspaper that it appeared that the bandits attempted to commit a robbery at her house as well because police retrieved a pair of sneakers which reportedly belonged to one of them, in her yard.
