Armed bandits invaded a Campbellville, George-town house in broad daylight yesterday and attacked a 48-year-old Indian national before carting off $1.3M in cash and a quantity of gold jewellery.
Baljinder Kaur yesterday told Stabroek News that she and her maid, Dolly Samaroo were alone at the Lot 51 Austin Street, Campbellville house when the attack occurred around 9.45am.
Kaur lives with her husband, businessman Malkiat Singh, who is also an Indian national, their brother-in-law and nephew.
Kaur explained that she was standing in her kitchen talking to Singh on the telephone while Samaroo was washing dishes.
“I was on the phone with he (Singh) and I see through the window somebody hand, they pushing they hand and then me see them (bandits) coming,” Kaur related.
She said one of the bandits first entered the house and held her at gunpoint. He was followed by two accomplices.
Two of the men were armed with guns while one had a cloth tied around his face in a bid to conceal his identity.
Kaur said the bandits threatened to shoot her if she did not hand over the cash. “He say he will shoot me if I don’t give he money and then he knock me head two-three time and he tell me, ‘give me money. Give me money’, so he tell me all the time,” Kaur related.
She said that the bandits pushed her into a bedroom and took some cash. Not satisfied with the cash, Kaur said that the men also demanded jewellery. “….Then he tell me he want jewellery too. ‘Give me jewellery’. Me tell him I don’t have jewellery. Then he take my earring and ring I was wearing and the bangles them in the wardrobe,” Kaur said.
Samaroo said she attempted to escape down the back step but one of the bandits held her at gunpoint and bought her back into the house.
“I been half the step going down. When I raise me head I see the bai (bandit) stand up in front me with a gun. I done know they come fah rob we inside hay. So I run down the step and open the door and then he run back ah me. He seh ‘come don’t run’ and he put the gun again to me. He said ‘come’, leh we give he the money, let we tell he weh the money deh. I seh me ain’t know weh money deh, we aint get money,” Samaroo related.
Kaur said that Singh had kept cash at home to purchase material for a house they are currently building in Garnett Street, Kitty. “I bring this money and put it here…I keep home sometime next two three days I want to buy the stuff for the house,” Singh said.
The bandits entered the premises by scaling the fence since the main entrance gate was padlocked. They then scaled the verandah rail and gained entry into the house.
After the incident, they escaped by the same means and were seen heading onto Railway Embankment Kitty.
Residents in the area related that once there, the bandits boarded a car which is suspected to have transported them to the crime scene. An alarm was subsequently raised and the police were contacted.
However, Kaur explained that when she called the Kitty police station to report the matter, the ranks requested that she go to the station to lodge a report instead of them coming.
Singh transported Kaur to the Georgetown Public Hospital to seek medical attention for the injuries she suffered to her head after which they went to the police station to report the matter.
“When I come home, three-four minutes after she call me I come home, I carry she the doctor and then the station,” Singh said. The police visited the scene yesterday afternoon. Kaur believes that the crime was commissioned by persons who know them. “…Because they left the front house and come here. Maybe they know,” she said. The incident has left the couple in fear.
Singh imports and sells groceries. The couple said they have been residing in Guyana for the past ten years. This is the first such experience.
Nearby surveillance footage captured the bandits entering and exiting the yard and also fleeing the scene.
