Shortly before mass began yesterday morning, gunmen stormed the St Philip’s Parish Church in Werk-en-Rust robbing several parishioners.
While no one was physically injured, the traumatized church members are now pleading with police to establish a presence in the area which has over the years been plagued with robberies.
“Mass begins at 7:30 (am) and I just finish opening the doors and about 15 members were here sitting waiting when I saw this youth come up, push he hand in he waist, pull out a gun, point it at me and seh ‘Don’t move’ …then another one came with another gun and start taking away people married ring and so,” an employee of the church recounted to Stabroek News yesterday.
The church is located in an area bordering Smyth Street to the East, High Street to the West, D’urban Street to the North and Princes Street to the South . Another eyewitness said that the three young men, who were on BMX bicycles, seemed to have been gauging their attack as they were waiting at the St Mary’s Community
High School which is behind the church on Princes Street. He said that they rode up to the main church entrance and two entered the building while one kept watch outside.
The eyewitness said the three robbers were in their late teens or early 20s because of their small stature. “Is three lil hungry belly looking boys…they can’t be more than 22,” he described.
The two men who entered the church began robbing the members who were seated in the back pews of their offerings, valuables and cell phones.
They did not venture to the front of the church but the officiating service priest, Father Oswald Barnes locked himself in the vestry of the church when he was alerted of the robbery. He remained there unharmed until the gunmen had ridden off.
The gunman who was keeping watch outside, also robbed an elderly parishioner and the driver of the taxi she was in as they pulled into the church entranceway. “The taxi man stopped but then caught eye of the gunman outside, same time Miss (name given) coming out and he telling she don’t come out, but she hard of hearing so she couldn’t hear he and same time the man come, put he gun to the taxi man head and take away he $300 he had and he documents, then he turn and rob she tuh, “ the eyewitness said.
The entire ordeal lasted for about ten minutes and the gunmen then rode off through the St Philip’s Green and disappeared.
Parishioners and members of the Guyana Society for the Blind, which is located at St Philip’s Green expressed their concerns about the safety of the area and are pleading with police for a presence there.
“I am a member of the Institute and nearly every day is a robbery …these boys see the blind as easy target and they rob us left, right and centre,” Robert Weekes of the GSB told Stabroek News.
The GSB’s entrance is located on High Street on a walkway behind the Carnegie School of Home Economics.
Weekes said the area is not only prone to robberies but is also frequented by junkies and prostitutes who sometimes ply their trade under a big tree opposite the school. He lamented that blind children are not speared the bold-faced robberies and many of them are traumatized to come to the centre daily.
One church member noted that while the area is a haven for criminals it would not deter him from being an ardent church goer. “I will continue to go there …you just have to pray because now nowhere is safe, people getting into the White House they breaching security everywhere so you just have to pray,” he said.
