A wake house was raided by three gunmen on Monday night on Shell Road, Kitty and one man’s attempt to contact the police via 911 produced no result.
The home, a street way from the Kitty police station, was robbed around 11:45 pm and the gunmen carried away over $200,000 and jewellery from family and friends gathered at the wake. Raphael Khan said he was sitting at a table with five of his friends, holding a wake for his father who died earlier that morning, when they were unexpectedly approached by the three men.
“At first I thought someone was pulling a prank but that was until they cranked the gun and told everybody not to move that it was a stickup,” Khan told Stabroek News.
He stated that the men ordered them to get up and walk into the house. “But my mother tried to run to the (police) station and they grab her and hit her in the back with the gun,” he said, adding that they were then pushed into the house. “At that time they were outside robbing the people and I call 911 like five times and they never answer,” he said. The robbery lasted for around three minutes.
Khan said that once he knew his mother was safe in her room he walked out of the house and saw the men walking away calmly. “There was a car waiting at the head of the street by Vlissengen Road. It was a white tinted wagon.” A patrol van, he said, arrived at his home about half an hour after he left to report the incident to the Kitty Police Station, which was just a street away from Shell Road.
“Someone got through with another police station and they sent out a patrol crew but I wasn’t there,” he said, noting that the police came and took statements from people who witnessed the robbery.
He stated that his mother has been traumatized by the incident. He added that it was a sad day for his family since his father died early that morning. “Yesterday [Monday] we get a call from the doctor saying that my dad has problem breathing and we should come down there fast. When we reached he was dead,” he said. “And now this.”
