Four bandits invaded a residence at Crane, West Coast Demerara on Tuesday night and robbed a family of over a million dollars in jewellery and cash at gunpoint, and two 19-year-old suspects have since been arrested.
24-year-old Hanson Forde related to Stabroek News last night that he was at home with his 40-year-old mother, Dawn Martin, his girlfriend, his uncle and his two-year-old cousin when three men invaded their house.
“Well I did some business during the day, ‘cause I had to buy this vehicle parts and I reached home around 8:10 with my girlfriend, and we had dinner and washed the wares. After that we were sitting in the chairs downstairs sorting some receipts out, and I hear something like when them balloons burst but louder and I said it sounded strange,” Forde said, explaining that at first he was under the impression that the noise came from his uncle, who was outside waiting on him to give him a drop, and he had broken something.
“At that same time I got up and was going outside to go give him the drop and I hear some noise in the yard and somebody saying ‘don’t move, don’t move give me the (expletive) phone…’” the man recalled, while stating that a few seconds later three men, two armed with guns, barged through the door and held the family at gun point, while one stayed outside and guarded his uncle.
“He [one of the bandits] kept the gun pointed at me and keep telling me to go back, go back so I kept stepping back slowly and then he start asking ‘where the jewels them, where the chain and where all the (expletive) money and gold’,” Forde said, adding that he told the men that whatever they came for they were going to get.
He related that the three men then forced him, his girlfriend and mother to lay face down on the ground and one of them started trying to remove the gold chain he was wearing. “It’s a big chain, 80 pennyweight, so he couldn’t take it off with one hand or buss it off, so when he keep trying and wasn’t getting [it], one of them shout ‘shoot he (expletive) nah man, what you waiting for,” Forde said, while adding that after the one of the bandits started to give the other order, he fired a shot into the air.
Subsequently, after one of the men told the other one to shoot him, Forde related that his mother interjected and said she was going to remove the chain and give it to them. He said that in addition to the chain, which he said is worth at least $800,000, his mother also removed a gold band, which is worth $300,000, from his hand and gave it to the men. “I also had $60,000 cash in my pocket, that and two phones from my girlfriend, and another from me,” he said, adding that his mother also gave them several gold rings and other jewellery that she was wearing.
However, even after relieving the family of their jewels, the men were not satisfied and kept demanding more. “They kept saying this is not all, where the gold, where the money, and then all of a sudden I hear the one at the back sey leh we roll,” Forde said, while adding that the attack lasted about 10 minutes.
He related that he heard the men slowly walking backwards, and when they reached outside of the house they sprinted away and escaped into the darkness.
After the men escaped, Forde explained he called one of his friends, a policeman on duty at the Vreed-en-Hoop police station, and a patrol was dispatched immediately.
While the police statement said that the men had escaped with raw gold, Forde explained that was incorrect, and it was jewellery, cash and phones that the men carted off.
The police statement also added that two suspects, both of whom are 19 years-old, have since been taken into custody and are assisting with the investigation.
Forde also related that he has no idea who might’ve robbed him, since his family has gold mining operations, and everyone in the area is aware of that information. From his recollection, no one followed him from town.
