A woman and her family are now traumatised after they were attacked by a lone gunman at their Diamond/Grove Housing Scheme, East Bank Demerara (EBD) home in the wee hours of Monday morning.
The attack occurred around 3.30 am at the Lot 48 Diamond/Grove Housing Scheme premises where Marcia Fredericks, 49, lives with her two daughters, Cynoveia Orford, 28, and Cindy Fredericks, 18.
The gunman initially held Marcia at gunpoint and eventually forced her into the apartment, where he gun-butted her twice. He then turned his attention to Cindy, who rushed to her mother’s assistance and pleaded with him to leave. The gunman later escaped with Marcia’s cell phone and fired a round at one of the family’s dogs after it attempted to attack him. The gunshot alerted neighbours and the police were summoned.
Marcia yesterday told Stabroek News that just before the attack she had been waiting on a taxi to transport her 12-year-old niece to Parika. She explained that her niece, who lives in Essequibo, spent a few days with her and was due to return home to attend her school’s orientation on Monday morning.
Marcia noted that when she awakened earlier, the dogs were barking continuously.
She said she told her niece to check if anyone was in the yard but Cindy asked her why she was sending the child alone.
Marcia noted that she subsequently went to check and found the gate to the premises open. “…I walk and come out by the gate but before I come out, meh lil grandson, he run and come out by the gate and he pull in the gate and I go and I lock the gate because the dogs just continue barking,” Marcia related.
She said after time elapsed and the taxi did not show up, she decided to call again. “We wake up early and ready and did waiting on taxi. I call the taxi before but they didn’t come at the same time so I call them back now, dah is when I come out ah the yard and calling back,” she added.
However, the call went unanswered and Marcia decided to sit and wait on a bench in the yard. She was soon after accosted by the gunman. “…All I could remember like somebody running coming to me and all I see this person with this thing ova he face with a dark shades or goggles or something. The person run, come to me and I scramble meh grandson because he was by the door, shaking, shaking it and I start screaming… I grabble he fah run in the house and lock the door. By time I guh fah reach by the door, he (gunman) grabble me by meh neck and force meh inside the house now with meh grandson in meh hand,” Marcia recalled.
Once inside the house, Marcia said, the gunman stood over her and held her at gunpoint. “…He push me next to the chair and stand up ova me and he hold the gun at me,” she said.
Marcia said her screams alerted Cindy, who hurriedly tried to herd the children to safety. “She scramble the two ah them and haul them fah inside but them ain’t go with she, them run back again to me and meh grandson hold on pun meh foot and he hollering, ‘Granny! Granny!’ He screaming,” Marcia added.
The gunman turned his attention to Cindy and demanded that she hand over cash. “…He holler, ‘Give me the money! Give me all the money!’” Marcia recalled.
“She (Cindy) tell he, ‘We don’t have money. We ain’t got no money. We is poor people. Come out from hay. Don’t hit back she (Marcia) no more,’” she added.
Marcia said the gunman threatened to kill Cindy if she didn’t give him cash. “He told her ‘give meh the money before I kill yuh,’” Marcia said.
The gunman at this point freed Marcia and she immediately went looking for her bag to give him the $20,000 cash she had to travel. “I woulda give he, leh he go and lef me. Just to save meh life. I woulda give he yes,” she said.
However, before she could have found the bag, the gunman picked up her cellphone and escaped. “He walk, go out by the gate and the dog them rush after he, scramble he foot. Then he fire the gun,” Marcia said.
Concerns have been raised about the long time the police took to respond to the crime.
“All the time we waiting on the police and the police ain’t come and I left and I go take a taxi not far from we and I went,” Marcia said.
She said the police turned up hours after but by that time she had already left home.
A police investigation has been launched and investigators returned to the scene yesterday to obtain additional statements.
The suspect remains on the lam.
Marcia said the attack has left her and her children fearful for their lives. She and her daughters hail from Essequibo and they have been occupying the apartment for around two years.
