Moments after they terrorised and robbed a Haslington businesswoman early yesterday morning, three bandits were nabbed by police while seeking refuge in a building a short distance away.
Police, in a statement, said that Dularie Rajkumar, 63, of Lot 1 South Haslington, East Coast Demerara was in her home when the three men, one of whom was armed with a gun, entered through the open door.
The men held up Rajkumar and began assaulting her while demanding cash and jewellery. Rajkumar’s son, Deonauth Rajkumar, who is a licensed firearm holder, was alerted to what was going on and went downstairs to his mother’s assistance.
The armed bandit discharged a round at Deonauth Rajkumar, who returned fire and shot the man to his right hand, the statement added.
Recounting the ordeal yesterday, the woman, who sustained injuries to her chin, said that she was in the kitchen preparing a meal shortly before sunrise, when she was attacked by one of the three men.
“I was cooking and then I open the door, not knowing that they deh in the bathroom outside peeping all the time. Then I feel somebody grab me and put a gun to me neck…then he start beating me and telling me that he gon kill me so and so,” the woman said.
According to her, his two accomplices then shouted out that they were going upstairs and this alerted her son, Deonauth, who was in the upper flat. “I end up holding on to the gun and when they shout that they going upstairs my son stand up at the step and he fire off a load and they fired off one at him too. Me son ended up shooting the one that vice me,” she said.
The woman also said that she did not get to see the faces of her attackers since they all had rags tied around their faces.
A neighbour, who did not wish to give his name, said that he was in his kitchen when he heard Deonauth shouting for help. “’All I hear is two gunshots and then I hear the son calling me for help. I go over and we take he vehicle and we drive around and go on the dam. He (Deonauth) end up recognizing one of them. We see they cross the trench and go into this house and we call the police and wait on them to come.”
Rajkumar also said that this is not the first time that the family had been robbed. “Me nah get why they keep coming. They didn’t take anything. This the fourth or fifth time that we get rob, the last time was in 2010. The time they de clean we out, jewellery, money everything. We does just operate a grocery stall in the Bourda Market,” she said.
