Gunmen terrorise another Corentyne family – millions in cash, jewellery stolen

Bandits, yesterday morning, brutalised yet another Corentyne family, carting off millions of dollars in cash and jewellery.

According to reports, the incident occurred at around 02:00hrs Sunday morning at Number 43 Village, Corentyne.

It is understood that told four armed bandits broke into the premises of Nakool Manohar and terrorised the family while demanding cash and valuables. Manohar was not at home at the time.

His wife Sattie Etwaru said she, her two daughters, another teenager and her father-in-law were at home when the bandits attacked them.

According to the traumatised woman, the men broke a window to gain access inside. She explained that after hearing that someone was breaking the window they tried to secure themselves in another room.

“When them come in the house and did not see us in the bedroom, them take a ‘post’ and break into the room that we ran into. After they get to us, they asked for our money and jewellery. I told them that they can take what they want but just don’t hurt us,” the distraught woman related.

 

Etwaru said the gunmen threatened to rape her eldest daughter if she did not give up the cash and jewellery.

The woman explained that while the men continued their search for valuables they were hitting her 74-year-old father-in-law to his head with a bottle and beating their teenaged family friend with a piece of wood.

Etwaru explained that the ordeal lasted for about 20 minutes and after the men found the money and some jewellery they left but immediately returned after the bandit who was on lookout told them that they did not get all of the family’s jewellery.

She said that she heard someone telling them “you didn’t collect all of the jewellery that they have.” Etwaru relayed that the gunmen then returned and was given additional jewellery after which they left. She said the bandits escaped with US$4,000, $1 million in cash and about $1.5 million in jewellery.

Police have since launched a manhunt for the criminals.

There have been a spate of armed robberies in Guyana, that have spiraled out of control in recent times, where several persons have lost their lives and millions stolen.

Meanwhile, according a blistering statement issued a few days ago from businessmen in Berbice, the Government “seems powerless, ineffectual, and out of their league in fighting crime”.

The statement last Friday afternoon from the Central Corentyne Chamber of Commerce (CCCC), in conjunction with the Berbice Chamber of Commerce, accused President David Granger and his APNU/AFC coalition government of “failing miserably” to provide security and protection for the Guyanese people.

“It is extremely disappointing as the coalition (APNU/AFC) campaigned very strongly on this issue and we were all optimistic with all the military, ex-commissioner and other ‘experts’ at their disposal and now we have a situation in Berbice that is far worse than we have ever experienced,” the businessmen charged.

“Everyone seems to be a sitting duck, as it seems every day a business is held up and residents beaten and robbed in their homes. This, coupled with the depressed business environment, makes it exceedingly burdensome for businesses and ordinary citizens to cope,” the businessmen said in their statement.

They also bluntly declared that “President Granger and the government has miserably failed the people of this country to provide protection and security.”

“We need the commissioner, divisional commanders and their deputies to urgently put strategies in place and monitor every single police station and outpost in the country to ensure that preventative strategies are put in place, and intelligence gathered and acted upon. The only exception to the above is the performance of the Crime Chief who has to be commended for his successes.”

The CCCC said the Government’s policy on crime needs a serious overhaul. “The government appears weak, soft and sympathetic to criminals, contrast this with the late Presidents’ Hoyte’s no-nonsense and aggressive approach to the ‘kick down the door bandits’ in the eighties, President Granger being a historian should go back and study and implement the strategies used by President Hoyte, who on assuming office in the eighties quickly brought the crime spree under control,” the CCCC posited.

It noted that instead of giving full support and trying to motivate the police, Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan started his reign in “a very high-handed and arrogant manner”, by fighting with and demoralising the police.

“Publicly chiding them for damaged vehicles, threatening to charge them for murder in shooting incidents, and then having to fund their own defense. Now the police are so uncertain and scared to shoot that recently a police was almost killed by a bandit in Rose Hall in the presence of their armed colleagues. Taken in context with President Granger’s insistence on pardoning criminals, it is no surprise that gun crimes have spiraled out of control. Bandits have become more emboldened by the Government’s approach,” the businessmen argued.