A bandit carted off in excess of $1M in jewellery from one of three houses he targeted early yesterday morning in Uitvlugt, West Coast Demerara.
Dhanraj Balgobin, called ‘Purt’ and the rest of his household were still counting their losses from the invasion when Stabroek News visited. According to the man’s wife, Indira Mahadeo, the invasion was discovered by her husband when he got up from bed at some minutes after three. The woman explained that, being a fish vendor, Balgobin has to awake early to prepare for work.
According to Balgobin, 46, after he got up he attempted to open his bedroom door but had some difficulty doing so as the lock from outside appeared to have been shut. He said he finally got it open and was shocked to find someone at the head of their inside stairs, apparently having just ascended. Upon seeing Balgobin, the intruder quickly retraced his steps and ran out of the house. Balgobin said that as the bandit ran down the inner steps, he [Balgobin] ran to the front of his house to see if he could intercept the retreat but “they didn’t go there”.
After the fish vendor raised the alarm about the invasion, his daughter Shivanie Balgobin, 23, related that she awoke and ran from her room armed with a hammer, “but when we come out them been done gone”. The family then discovered that parts of the house, including two of the three bedrooms, had been ransacked and several items, including the jewellery, were missing. Apart from the $1M worth in jewellery, the family also lost a DVD player, a lap top computer [given to them by the government through the One Laptop Per Family programme], an amplifier system, and two cellular phones; one valued at $65,000.
The family is puzzled as to how they slept through the entire burglary, since according to them they would normally awake at the slightest noise in the neighbourhood. Making reference to the glass door and grill leading onto their front verandah which the burglar had opened as an escape route, Balgobin explained that whenever the doors are opened a loud noise would be made and so he is surprised they heard nothing. “Bout half hour me wake up and lie down deh and me nah hear nothing,” he said.
Apart from Balgobin, his wife and their daughter, the other occupants in the house at the time of the incident included his daughter-in-law Samantha Oselmo, 25, and her two children, ages two and four, and Shivanie’s two children, ages eight and four.
Following the discovery, the police were summoned and they arrived on the scene about fifteen minutes after and conducted their investigations. It was later discovered that the bandits had, on the same night, prior to invading the Balgobins’ home, raided the bottom flat of one of Balgobin’s son’s house, making off with $10,000. They also attempted to break into the fish vendor’s sister’s home as well. Both houses are situated at De Groot-en Klyne, Uitvlugt.
According to the sister, Doreen Sahadeo, 40, she was at home alone in her two-bedroom concrete house, asleep, when at around 2am she awoke to the sound of her side windows being pulled. The woman related that on hearing the sound she continued to listen to see if it would continue and when it did she called out to see who was there. In response, the woman said the intruder stated “Fats [she is normally called ‘Fat Woman’], is yuh man, open up”. The irate woman said she then began to curse at the invader, then picked up her cellular phone, and pretended to be talking with the police. She said that upon hearing this the intruder fled the premises.
Balgobin related that he was made to understand that a little after attempting to invade Sahadeo’s home, the intruder ventured to his son’s home close by and entered the bottom half. At the time of the incident, he related, his son was away from home and so the only occupants were his wife and two children. The wife, Balgobin said, upon hearing the noise downstairs, remained upstairs in fear and shouted out to neighbours who ran to assist. By this time the intruder had already fled.
Though the family believes that there was more than one suspect involved in the burglary, only one was seen, unmasked and wearing a grey t-shirt.
This newspaper was late yesterday afternoon made to understand that on Wednesday afternoon a man fitting the description of the suspect was seen in the area riding a white Mountain Bike.
