Commander of Region Six, Superintendent Jairam Ramlakhan, yesterday afternoon confirmed that four persons have been arrested in connection with the robbery committed on an overseas-based Guyanese woman and her family in Number 73 Village, Corentyne, Berbice, during the wee hours of Monday.
, 58, an overseas-based Guyanese of Number 73 Village, Corentyne, had explained that she along with several other relatives came to Guyana for her brother’s funeral.
On Sunday evening, after attending the wake, she asked her son, also an overseas-based Guyanese, to take her and a few others home where they had something to eat and retired to bed.
Around 1.50 am on Monday, two bandits armed with guns broke into her house and carried out their attack.
“All of a sudden I feel somebody pull my ring out of my finger and when I open my eyes he was right there with a gun on my head and the other one stand up that way over my cousin head,” she recounted.
According to her, both perpetrators, who were heavily masked and armed with guns, ordered them to be quiet and to hand over “the money”.
She relayed that after she said she did not have any money, the bandit standing over her told her that she should hand over the money before he does something to her.
After removing all of her jewellery, the men proceeded to ransack the entire house.
They carted off one gold chain valued $70,000, two gold rings valued $80,000, one Samsung cellphone valued $40,000, one pair of Clarks sneakers valued $16,000, and one backpack valued $4,000.
The men also escaped with one white Toyota Fielder wagon PTT 864, which the police later recovered several villages away.
Based on information gathered, while the perpetrators were escaping, a relative returned home with the car and after seeing the bandits he ran and left the vehicle with the keys in the ignition which the bandits promptly commandeered.
Ramlakhan said yesterday that the four suspects will remain in custody for further questioning as the investigation continues.
Number 69 Village
Meanwhile, just around midnight last Friday two gunmen robbed a 46-year-old businesswoman at Number 69 Village, Corentyne.
The bandits reportedly escaped with $200,000 cash, one gold bangle, and a pair of gold earrings.
According to information gathered, the businesswoman’s daughter was sitting on a chair inside the shop when the two suspects launched their attack.
They reportedly attempted to hold the daughter, 23, at gunpoint but she managed to run out of the shop onto the street.
The suspects then entered the house where they held the businesswoman and another at gunpoint.
During the robbery, the businesswoman sustained several blows to her hands for which she later received treatment at the Skeldon Public Hospital.
Number 68 Village
On October 2, four armed bandits robbed a Number 68 Village, Corentyne family who had several overseas-based Guyanese as guests at the time of the attack.
Ranica Hardeo also known as ‘Shanti’, had explained to Stabroek News that prior to the attack she had picked up her son and some other relatives at the airport and returned with them to her Corentyne residence.
Around 2 am on October, 1, a noise was heard coming from outside of their house but according to the woman, they paid no attention to it and went back to sleep. They later discovered that there was an attempt to break into their house.
However, it was around 8.30 pm the following day that the perpetrators returned to the house where there was a small gathering of relatives at the time.
Three of the men armed with two guns and one knife entered the yard while a fourth who was armed with a gun stood guard outside. The three men then gathered the occupants together and ordered them to hand over whatever cash and valuables they had in their possession.
As her son handed the men his wallet, he pleaded with them to leave them alone since that was all he had. However, one of the perpetrators then grabbed her overseas relative’s two-year-old child and threatened that if she (the overseas relative) did not bring the “money and gold,” they would go away with the child.
This threat prompted a male relative to break away and run outside where he began to scream for help causing the perpetrators to abort their robbery and escape with whatever items they had secured at that time.
The men were able to cart off one Samsung Galaxy cellular phone valued $50,000, one pair of gold earrings valued $56,000, one gold bangle valued $70,000, two gold and diamond finger rings valued $400,000, one gold bangle valued $100,000 along with six gold bangles valued $360,000, one gold finger ring valued $50,000, one Samsung cellular phone valued $48,000, $105,000 in Guyana currency and US$350.
Two men – Ifraz Madeen also known as ‘Fire’, 29, unemployed of Lot 8 Number 73 Village, Corentyne, and Vikash Singh also known as ‘Crane’, 32, a labourer of Number 67 Village, Corentyne, were charged jointly with five counts of robbery under arms committed on Hardeo and her relatives.
The duo have been remanded to prison.
