Two persons are in custody assisting with the investigation of Saturday’s armed robbery on a La Jalousie, West Coast Demerara store that saw four bandits assault the owners and customers before carting off valuables.
“Well, approximately after 12 on Saturday, about four men … barged into the business armed and proceeded to ransack everywhere. From what I could have seen, two of them were visibly armed with guns and I wasn’t sure about the other two,” one of the eyewitnesses, who did not want to be named, explained to Stabroek News yesterday.
The visibly traumatised man explained that the ordeal went on for some 20 minutes where he and about five other persons were severely beaten.
“There were four persons from the store and two customers and they beat us, ripped out the DVR and computer system and whatever they could’ve taken,” the man explained.
However, he told Stabroek News that he did not think it was a simple robbery but an initiation.
“… although we complied with everything they continued to beat us. And one of them was giving the rest orders and even told one of the younger ones to make his day like it was some sort of initiation,” the man said, explaining that while the ladies were thrown around and beaten, the males were kicked and hit several times with the gun.
While talking to Stabroek News the man’s left face was bruised and bleeding slightly. While they all visited the hospital after the traumatic ordeal, none of them suffered any serious injuries and were subsequently released.
He explained that after the men assaulted them they carted off cellphone cards, a laptop, several cellular phones, an undisclosed sum of cash, jewellery and other items. The four men escaped in two cars, a Toyota Premio and NZE, that he explained was heavily tinted, in the direction of Vreed-en-Hoop. He said from his observation the men, who were unmasked, were between the ages of 17 and 25 and all seemed amateur.
However, the man and his family pointed out that now they are going to live in fear and are scared and hesitant as to whether to reopen the shop.
“We were lucky that nobody got shoot and we all escaped with our lives because how it look all of them looked nervous and like they didn’t know what they were doing. What if one of them had killed one of us? All for lil money and is not like they get away with nuff things. Is little bit and look what they put people through for,” another relative lamented.
The police currently have two persons in custody as the investigation continues.
