A West Bank Demerara man is nursing injuries to his face suffered at the hands of three armed robbers who on Wednesday evening invaded the Best Village home of his employer, terrorized two other workers and made off with over $4M in local and foreign currency along with the home owner’s gun.
Recounting the ordeal, 34 year sales clerk Vera Wong of the SD International grocery store, located on Lombard Street said that when her boss, Samuel Deonarine , was overseas she would normally visit to feed the dogs and ensure the home was secure.
Wednesday evening was no different since her employer had left the country, a few days prior, for an overseas business trip. Wong said because she lives a short distance from her boss’s home she would also have to be at his house when the canters arrived from the Georgetown store to be parked. On Wednesday she left work shortly after midday and stopped at the house to do chores and prepare meals for the dogs. She said she knew the the canter truck would arrive sometime before seven and waited.
A little after seven the canter arrived and she locked the ferocious dogs in their kennels and proceeded to open the gates. She said as the truck, with driver Taij Singh and her relative Gerald Wong, the porter, pulled into the yard the three gun-toting bandits followed and each held one of the employees. As Singh attempted to scream, the bandit hit him in the mouth with the gun bursting his lips.
“ I was waiting on them and when they come I went to open the gate and next thing I know these three men appear …it seems to me that all had guns and one even had an extra one in his waist. I was scared and the driver go to scream and the bandit hit him in the mouth and told him shut the f#@k up. He said if anyone make any noise he would shoot all three of us so we listen.”
The woman said the bandits then took them upstairs into the home where their hands and eyes were duct taped one after the other and they were then locked from the outside with the padlock, in a spare room of the house. This was not before they took away whatever monies they had along with their cell phones.
The men then proceeded to ransack Deonarine’s home as they searched for valuables. In the process they found his licensed .32 firearm which was stashed in his bedroom. They also found some $3M local currency, $3000USD and $2000CAN.
When Stabroek News visited the area yesterday, neighbours said that sometime around 6:30 -7PM they saw a strange white Toyota car parked a short distance from the home. They thought that the occupants had come to the person who lives near to where they were parked and were waiting for them to come home. They said that they felt that the robbery was planned as the bandits seem to know that Deonarine was out of the country and what time the canter would arrive given their arrival and short waiting time.
They said they did not hear anything strange until screams rang out from inside Deonarine’s home. They said when they arrived they had to break the door to rescue the trio who had untied each other but were locked in the room screaming.
The neighbours called the police who said up to press time yesterday that they were investigating.
Deonarine returned yesterday morning to be told of the robbery.
