Armed bandits just before midday yesterday, invaded a Crane, West Coast Demerara rice field and robbed a rice farmer and his family of a quantity of cash and other important documents.
The incident occurred around 11 am while rice farmer Ramkissoon Ramnarine and a worker were ploughing the field. His wife, 56-year-old Indira Ramnarine and their 26-year-old daughter were relaxing in separate hammocks located under a shed, a short distance from the rice field.
According to reports reaching this newspaper, the two men arrived at the scene on a motorcycle.
However, while the rider waited on the roadside, his accomplice who was armed with a handgun approached the shed where he held Indira and her daughter at gunpoint. The gunman then snatched three bags which held $90,000 cash, Ramkissoon’s ID card and driver’s licence and escaped on the waiting motorcycle.
Ramkissson explained to this newspaper that yesterday’s attack was the third such on his family while noting that several years ago bandits invaded his home during which he was shot.
The trauma of that incident, the weeping man said, caused his daughter to stop speaking.
The rice farmer said that another worker was sitting a short distance away from the shed but before he could have raised an alarm he noticed the bandit pulling a gun from his waist. He also related that his daughter might have seen the bandit approaching from a distance but due to her speech impairment she was unable to raise an alarm.
A police investigation has since been launched into the incident.
