Six bandits, armed with high-powered weapons, were forced to abort a home invasion at midnight last Saturday after a Corentyne moneychanger opened fire on them.
It is suspected that at least one of the bandits was injured during the shootout since bloodstains were found on the veranda and a stairway.
Gordial Balram, 49, of Lot 48 Number 69 Village, Corentyne, who is also a rice farmer and minibus operator, told Stabroek News that just around midnight on Saturday he heard a loud sound coming from the back of his house. “I hear breaking sound and gunshot,” Balram, a father of three, said.
According to him, the bandits first attempted to gain entry to his house by breaking the window to the bathroom, located on the upper flat. However, after discovering the window was heavily grilled, the bandits then broke a glass window around the back veranda.
After gaining entry to the veranda, the armed men then used a sledgehammer, which they brought with them, to make a hole in the back wall of Balram’s concrete house.
However, Balram, whose son was paralysed when they were previously robbed, began firing on the men with his licensed firearm.
According to Balram, his wife, daughter and a friend’s two children were present in the house during the ordeal, which lasted for just over 15 minutes. He said his wife and the children hid in the backroom, while he stood in front of the door in the front room and shot at the bandits.
After the bandits finally gained entry to the house, Balram said he hid in the front room and locked the door. He said, “Them run in the house and start shoot more and cuss up telling me fa open the (expletive) door”. “Them a cuss—‘put on the (expletive) light, me go kill you mudda so and so,’” he related.
It is suspected that after realising that at least one from their group was shot the bandits made good their escape through a nearby dam located opposite Balram’s house.
The bandits, who were masked and wore hoodies, did not escape with any valuables from the moneychanger’s house.
Nobody answered
Meanwhile, Balram believes that had his wife been able to contact the police as she was trying to during the attack, then the bandits could have been caught. He said his wife repeatedly tried to call the Springlands Police Station but could not get onto the station since the phone has been out of service for several weeks now.
Stabroek News visited the Springlands Police Station yesterday and a rank present confirmed that the phone has not been working for several weeks now. However, the rank refused to give a reason as to why the phone is not working.
Balram’s wife yesterday said that during the robbery she quickly googled police numbers and began calling all the way to Georgetown “but nobody na answer.”
Furthermore, Balram said, after the men escaped he phoned a friend who drove to the Springlands Police Station to alert the police of the robbery. However, “When he go only one police been there so they couldn’t come right away”.
In February of 2014, Balram’s then 16-year-old son was shot during a suspected robbery. Yesterday the man broke into tears as he related that his son was left paralysed as a result of that attack. The young man is now 21-years-old and is presently overseas.
Further, according to Balram to his knowledge no one has since been charged for the shooting of his son.
He said there is need for business persons to be “properly armed” since bandits are now mostly equipped with high-powered weapons.
He explained that over the last eight years he has applied twice for a shotgun but has always been refused. “I get licence for gun about 15 years now, never get problem… Me apply two times for a shotgun and them refuse me. If me had a shotgun deh, I would a take down them (bandits),” he said.
Meanwhile, the police in Region Six have launched an investigation but as of yesterday afternoon no arrest had been made as yet.
A source told Stabroek News that all medical institutions within the region are on alert while roadblock checks were done throughout yesterday along the Corentyne highway.
