An elderly East Canje man is now hospitalised after bandits attacked him and his wife in their home early yesterday morning.
Daljit Balraj, 64, and his wife, Bidiawattee Balraj, 59, of Lot 12 Aldephi, Berbice, were robbed of approximately $300,000 cash in local and foreign currency, as well as a quantity of jewellery belonging to their son.
Police said the attack, which occurred just before 3am, was carried out by three men, who werearmed with a gun, a cutlass and a baton.
The couple had been stirred by strange noises on the property and Daljit went out onto his verandah to investigate. He was confronted there by the men, who later tied up the couple and raided the house. The attack lasted about half an hour, Bidiawattee subsequently said.
Up to last evening, Daljit remained a patient at the New Amsterdam Public Hospital, where medical personnel were trying to stabilise his blood pressure. His wife was treated and discharged.
A still shaken Bidiawattee said at around 2.45am she heard noises and alerted her husband.
She said her husband’s initial checks out on the veranda did not turn up anything. However, when they tried to turn on the lights for the lower flat, they did not come on. This, she said, raised more suspicions that intruders were present.
Still, they did not see anything and Bidiawattee went into the bedroom and peeped through the windows to see if she would notice any strange movements. Daljit, she noted, returned out onto the veranda to make a second check and she heard him screaming.
Before she could check on him, two masked men entered the room and demanded cash and jewellery. The woman indicated to the men that she did not have any. “We know yuh get, so yuh gotta give we,” the men, however, told her.
Bidiawattee said she told the men she would cooperate with them but they should not harm her husband. However, the woman stated that her words fell on deaf ears as one of the men took her husband’s church clothes, tore them and tied him up. The man also bashed his face.
Before the men left, they ransacked the home. She noted that they asked about the room of her son, Ryan, who works at GuySuCo’s Rose Hall Estate. Bidiawattee said her son used to wear a lot of jewellery but he had been wearing less of late. She directed the men to the room, where they found a box of jewellery. After finding that box, the men tied up the woman and placed her to lie on the floor. They threatened to return if the couple said anything about the robbery.
After the bandits left, Bidiawattee said she managed to free herself and then her husband. She then telephoned relatives who live nearby and the police, who arrived some time later and began investigations.
In the community yesterday, many residents voiced their fear about crime. “It seemed like it was calming down because we weren’t having much robberies in the recent weeks but it seems to be climbing again,” one resident said.
Bidiawattee noted that she had never been robbed in her years at the residence, although there had been an attempted break in four years ago.
