A Pouderoyen, West Bank Demerara family was tied up, beaten and robbed by a gang of five bandits, who invaded their home on Thursday evening.
Commander of ‘D’ Division Stephen Mansell told Stabroek News yesterday that a suspect, who resides at a Georgetown address, has been held.
The police said in a statement on the attack that around 8.30 pm on Thursday, five men, one of whom was armed with a handgun and the others with cutlasses, entered the home of Andy Sookram, 54, of 82 Samaroo Dam, Pouderoyen, and tied him up along with his wife Esardai Sookram, 47, and their son Andrew Sookram, 18.
The bandits carted off two generators, a weeding machine, eight gold rings, two gas cylinders and four cell phones, the police said.
The visibly traumatised family yesterday could not give a direct account of the items which were stolen as the entire house was ransacked. The bandits also took shirts and jerseys belonging to Andrew and his father. A quantity of food items was also taken. A flat screen television belonging to another son of Sookram, who was occupying the lower flat of the house, is gone along with electrical tools and other property.
Andy Sookram recalled that he and his family were in the kitchen in the upper flat of the house when the men barged in. The man brandishing a gun ordered him and the others to lay face down without making any sound. At the time Sookram was washing dishes while his wife was cooking and their son was on a chair in the kitchen.
“At first I thought was a joke and I didn’t take it for anything, but after the man keep saying get on the f — ing ground, I start to go down slow, slow and then I tell mehself is bandit and rob we getting rob,” Esardai said. As the family lay on the ground, the bandits took a knife from the kitchen and cut the coverings from the sofa into strips to bind their victims. “They tie us like guana. I was face down, while my hands were tied at my back and my feet were also tied,” Andy recalled, while adding that he was punched to the face and beaten, while the bandits demanded that he point them to all the gold and money. “They asking me questions and punching me and telling me to talk when my mouth was tied with a cloth,” he said. Esardai was also beaten and the bandits squeezed her neck with the garden shears.
Andy’s cutlass was also used to assault and threaten the family.The entire two-storey building was ransacked.
Andrew said one of the bandits took out a razor blade and threatened to slit his mother’s throat. He said the ordeal keeps replaying like a horror story in his mind and he is afraid to fall asleep.
Meanwhile, the family believes that if their home had electricity, it may have prevented the brazen act.
The Sookrams have been living at their current address for the past 16 years, but have never had electricity despite several visits to the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) offices in Georgetown and Vreed-en-Hoop. A utility post in the area does not extend to their house is. Sookram said he even sought help from the Regional Democratic Council (RDC), which issued him with a letter to present to GPL, but to no avail.
Andy said GPL told him that he would need to pay some $400,000 before power was connected. Since he cannot afford that sum, the house has remained without power. About five other houses nearby are also without electricity.
Andy’s house is the last house on Samaroo Dam and he said all that is needed is about four to five lampposts to facilitate the electrical wires reaching his house.
Andrew also bemoaned the situation, as he recalled studying with a wall lamp throughout secondary school. The family noted that the lack of light around the house has resulted in many persons loitering in the area at night.
Neighbours were not aware that the family was being robbed but they recognised a white 212 car in the area, which they suspected to have been used by the bandits. The car is suspected to be connected to a popular taxi service in the area and the registration number was also given to the police.
