Residents say that just over an hour elapsed from the time the first gunshot was heard during the Maida, Corentyne robbery to when police ranks arrived on the scene.
All during this time they say, numerous calls were made to the Whim Police Station and to the personal cell phones of two ranks, but no one came to the rescue of those in the household who were under attack.
According to the accounts given to Stabroek News recently the first gunshot was heard at 2.30 am on Sunday, December 21. The first sign of the police was at 3.45 am when four ranks turned up to investigate.
The police response time in this case has raised many questions, since there have been similar complaints over the years. The police are claiming, however, that the reports of a slothful response were a fabrication aimed at achieving political mileage.
Six men armed with guns invaded the Pooran’s home at Lot 47-48 Maida Farm and stole approximately $3 million in cash as well as jewellery worth $1 million. They had knocked out wooden bars, peeled back grillwork and smashed glass to gain entry to the house.
One resident recounted that around 2.30 am she was awakened by a “gunload of fire.” She said on peeping out she saw rice vendor, Latchman ‘Anil’ Pooran running down the road with one of his feet dragging behind him. She said that the man started shouting. “Thief, thief in meh house and they gun kill meh wife and pickney.”
The woman said that at this point one of her relatives called the Whim Police Station after she had provided the number. She said that the ranks did not arrive until 3.45 am. The woman insisted that she was aware of the time as she leaves home early in the mornings to buy fish to sell.
She said that the man even borrowed the cell phone of one of her relatives and spoke to two policemen he knows personally. She recalled that the terrified man identified himself as “the rice man Anil,” and informed the person on the other end that thieves were in his house. The woman told Stabroek News that the ranks said to the man that they were coming, but that they never came. At 3.45 am when they arrived they called the phone that Pooran had used to say that they were outside, she said.
According to the woman four policemen arrived first. “They come in a police jeep but it ain’t had no light,” she said, adding that one rank was dressed in short pants and two uniformed officers holding “long gun,” went to Pooran’s home. She said that by this time, the bandits had already fled.
The woman stated that when the police entered the premises they identified themselves as the police and enquired about any jewellery and money that was stolen. She said that they were told the men had broken into the house, but the ranks responded that they were seeing no signs of breakage. They were then directed to the back of the house where the story being told to them was confirmed.
According to the resident, the ranks commented on the size of the robbery and then left. They returned around 4.30 am, this time in the company of some other policemen who were in a silver motor car. It was after the first group had left that Pooran was taken to the hospital. During the ordeal he had injured his feet jumping approximately 10 feet from his front veranda and then scaling a fence topped by barbed and razor wire estimated to be seven feet high in a bid to escape his assailants who had threatened to shoot him.
The woman, during the interview with Stabroek News, insisted that the police did indeed take a long while to respond.
Another resident who made it clear that he was uncertain of the exact time, said that about 2 am he heard “a gunshot fire and I jump up.” He said that he was unsure if it was a gunshot but his girlfriend told him that it was. He said that moments later three shots were fired one after the other and this was followed by screaming. He said that he peeped out but wasn’t seeing anyone. Shortly after that he said Pooran jumped over his veranda and ran before collapsing in front of his house. He said that while rushing to the man’s assistance he heard one of the bandits say “Wuk it up, wuk it up.” These words according to him were followed by three more gunshots. He said that he was so terrified he ran into his bathroom and locked the door. He came out of hiding after the bandits had left. He said during the incident his girlfriend tried making contact with the police seven or eight times.
The resident said that with the assistance of others he helped the wounded Pooran back to his house. Four policemen, he recalled, turned up later but only three exited. “Them police tek like 1½ to two hour to respond,” he said, adding that by then the bandits were long gone.
‘Called till credit done’
Another resident said that he called the police until his credit was finished. The man explained that after Pooran used his phone to contact the ranks and they failed to come, he redialled the numbers. “All they telling me is that they coming but nobody never come,” he said, adding that he still has the numbers stored in his phone. He said that he could not ascertain the exact time the calls were made as the time on his cellphone is not correct.
According to what residents said, they were unaware that the Pooran household was under attack prior to gunshots being fired.
Given the dispute in relation to the timing of the calls placed to the police, residents are hoping that the police will make use of the local telephone providers to get to the bottom of the issue.
Pooran told Stabroek News two days after the invasion that the police took approximately half an hour to respond to his calls. He said when he made the first call the police did not hear him clearly and kept asking where the robbery was occurring. He returned a call and informed them that the robbery was taking place at Maida on a “blue-green house where the rice man lives” (explaining to police where he lives) and the officer on the line said they were sending police.
Pooran’s wife Noonwattie had told the media that the determined bandits took almost an hour to gain entry into the house.
She recalled that they were awakened by unusual noises on their premises. “I heard the dogs bark, something break and a sound like a gunshot and I turned and wake up Anil. I tell he put on the camera [monitor for the surveillance cameras] and we saw four men coming up the stairs,” she recounted. The woman said that after they saw the men coming upstairs, she sounded an alarm.
The men were experiencing difficulty in entering the home. Noonwattie recalled hearing the men saying that they could not find an entry point into the house. Stabroek News observed that the family’s home was indeed tightly secured as there was an iron grille over two wooden doors which were locked with top-of-the-line security padlocks.
The men subsequently broke a window that was located next to the door but were hampered by the wooden bars and an iron grille which secured it. However, eventually they broke the wooden bars and bent the iron grille and entered. Noonwattie related that the family had recently spent over $1.5 million to install the glass windows and door on the rear veranda.
The bandits also had with them two 4×4 posts and used these to smash open a glass door on the rear veranda. Hearing the noise, Noonwattie said, they quietly walked out to the front veranda in a bid to get to safety. She said that as they hid on the veranda, they made numerous calls to Whim police station, but got no response. “I call police and holler for help but nobody! Nobody didn’t come,” she said.
It was related to this newspaper that three of the bandits entered the home while the others stood guard outside.
Divisional commander Brian Joseph has since denied that his ranks took over one-and-a-half hours to respond to the crime scene. Joseph told Stabroek News that officers attached to the Whim Police Station where on patrol at 02:45 hours when they were informed of the robbery. He said they had left their patrol destination which was approximately 12 miles away and responded to the robbery.
Stabroek News was told that it would take the police at least 20-30 minutes to make the journey on a traffic free road.
