A church meeting ended prematurely on Wednesday night when a bandit barged into the Bible Way Church at Canvas City, Linden and robbed members at gunpoint.
The unmasked bandit took an undisclosed sum of cash, jewellery, mobile phones and other personal effects in the attack, which occurred shortly after 7 pm as a group of female church members was meeting to discuss plans for an upcoming observance.
The pastor and another church member that was robbed told Stabroek News that the gunman entered through a side door. They initially thought that he was visiting someone, until he drew his gun and pointed it in their direction and ordered them to drop to the floor and surrender their valuables.
“He said give me all deh so and so money,“ one of them recounted. The robbery victims asked not to be named, since the church membership is comprised primarily of women, many of whom are involved in business and fear a reprisal.
The victims said that they tried as much as possible to cooperate. According to the pastor, the bandit stood a little distance away from them and pointed the gun in the direction of the church sister with the most jewellery on. “He keep telling her to pass over deh so and so jewellery. I was focusing on her because I see she was fumbling a lot and was getting a hard time to get one of her band off,“ she recalled.
Fearful that the bandit might become impatient and harm the woman, the pastor opted to help buy her some time. “I decided to get up and he turned de gun to me now… He asked where you going and I told him I had some money in my bag on one of the pews to the back of the church and I was going to get it to give to him,” she explained.
The gunman followed the pastor to her bag and she took out over $30,000 and a cellular phone and gave to him.
“I move really slow, hoping that she would have found the hoop on deh band and take it off,“ she said, however, by the time the pastor was escorted back to the other members on the floor, the other woman was still struggling to remove her jewellery. It took some time before the bandit finally decided to forcefully remove the jewellery.
After the lengthy hold-up, the man eventually made his escape through one of the side doors, locking it behind him before leaving.
Persons living nearby recalled seeing the man peeping into the church from the yard but did not suspect him to be a bandit. He was described as being in his early to mid-20s, slim, dark in complexion and of average height. He wore a long sleeved hooded sweat shirt, short pants, a pair of green slippers, and had a backpack. The gun, described as rusted, is believed to have been a revolver.
The robbery was reported to the police, who responded promptly but were unsuccessful in locating the man. Recently, there has been an upsurge of armed robberies across Linden, with the attacks being perpetrated by a lone gunman and in some cases with accomplices.
With activities for the Christmas holiday beginning to pick up, residents are becoming more fearful. Businessmen also share the same fear and some have been closing their businesses earlier. “But the thing that is scary now is that dem bannas striking any time, deh ain’t waiting for late night no more so right now nobody ain’t safe,“ said one person.
