An elderly couple was left traumatised after three men invaded a Sophia house early yesterday morning and took a small amount of gold jewellery and cash.
Albert Clarke, 83, his wife Shirley Sheppard, 69, and two male relatives were attacked at their Lot 337 ‘A’ Field, Sophia residence, which was ransacked by the armed intruders.
Sheppard told Stabroek News that around 2 am, she was awakened by the sound of a window breaking. She immediately got up to investigate and armed with a small torchlight, she opened her door, only to be confronted by a man. The sickly woman told this newspaper that before she could react, he covered her mouth with his hands before placing a gun to her temple. “He tell me, ‘Don’t seh a word, we just want de gold and money,’” she recalled.
According to Sheppard, she informed her captor that she was a poor person and did not have what he was looking for. “He seh ‘Whey de gold deh?’ And I seh, ‘We don’t have, you can go and search we ain‘t got!’”
Shortly after, the men started ransacking the house and managed to find a small iron safe in a medicine cabinet in one of the bedrooms. They broke the lock and found a gold bangle, a chain and a broach.
Sheppard said before confronting her, the gunmen had gone into another bedroom where her nephew was sleeping and ordered him to lie on the floor.
Later, the bandit entered her bedroom and started to ransack it, while the other two men stood guard nearby. At some point, Clarke was brought out of the bedroom. “De bandit seh, ‘Muds, you go and lie down, put yuh face down… I love you, man, I wouldn’t do you nothing, we just want the gold and the money,’” she recalled. She was later ordered to lie on the floor and she said she complied, while noting that at no time did she put up any resistance.
The elderly woman averaged that the men spent about ten minutes in the house. Pointing to dried mud on her leg, she said that she believed that they came through her back yard and fled the same way.
Once in the yard, they are suspected to have used an unpeeled coconut to break a window in the dining area. The coconut was still lying on the ground amidst the shattered glass.
Based on Sheppard’s account, there were three men in the house and an accomplice was in the yard keeping watch. Only one of the men had a gun and he was masked.
The Turkeyen Police Station was contacted after the attack and police ranks responded shortly after.
Sheppard and Clarke have been residing in the Sophia area since 2004 and yesterday was the first time that they were robbed.
