By Dreylan Johnson
A pastor and his wife were both chopped last evening when they were attacked by bandits at their Foulis, East Coast Demerara home.
At around 7.30 pm, three bandits attacked pastor Rohit Deonarine 42, and his wife, Nirmala Deonarine, at their Lot 481 12th Street, Foulis home and escaped with approximately $100,000.
Stabroek News was told that while both the pastor and his wife sustained chop wounds to the head in the attack, the woman’s condition was more serious.
Deonarine, who is the pastor of the Enmore Baptist Church, also operates a grocery at his residence.
He was preparing to leave home to attend a prayer session when he was attacked. He recalled that he had just parked his car and was about to head back inside to retrieve his bible when he was approached by a man, who appeared to be holding a gun.
“I hear this guy shouting, ‘Come out the vehicle, come out the vehicle… the man seh, ‘I gon shoot you.’” So I came out, and then I realised you know—I thought it was a joke at first—and then I realised it’s an attack. I made a shout for thief but the guy give me a lash in ma head and then headed towards the house,” he recalled as he sat in the waiting area of the Woodlands Hospital last evening.
The pastor recounted that one of the bandits rushed towards where his wife was standing and attacked her there. Nirmala was at the time standing in a section of the house in front of the opened grill door. Rohit said that when he saw his wife was being threatened, he decided to comply.
“The guy pushed me there and he said, ‘Where’s the money? Where’s the money?’ Then another lash in ma head. I said, ‘I’m taking you there to get the money,’” he recounted.
At that point, he said, the man pulled his wife into the house and locked the door as he continuously hit her.
Nirmala eventually gave in and revealed that there was money hidden under a chair in the house. When the money was retrieved, the man showed it to his accomplice and the two ran off. Deonarine could not say for sure where the third man was during the attack, but believes he may have acted as a lookout.
While all this was underway, the couple’s eleven-year-old daughter had been upstairs doing homework.
The girl recalled hearing her mother yelling “thief” but said at first she thought it may have just been the employees of the shop playing around. After realising it was a real ordeal, she raised an alarm to which neighbours responded and the bandits escaped.
The wounded had said that one of the bandits ran into the house and as a result it was searched several times but no one was found. Police also returned on the scene after they were informed that one of the bandits might have been hiding in the house. Although they did not find anyone, they did recover two toy guns from the crime scene.
A number of neighbourhood policing group members, armed with guns, remained at the scene up to press time searching for signs of the men. Neighbours were also seen arming themselves with machetes and surrounding the crime scene.
