— gunmen escape with millions as rampage continues
Bandits on Sunday morning brutalised yet another Corentyne family, carting off millions of dollars in cash and jewellery.
According to reports the incident occurred at around 02:00h at Number 43 Village, Corentyne, Berbice, Region Six (East Berbice- Corentyne).
The house where the robbery took place
Guyana Times was 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 to 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$4000, $1 million and about $1.5 million in jewellery.
Speaking with this publication, Bhagwattie Mangar, Manohar’s mother who lives a short distance away explained that she heard screams coming from her son’s house. She said she opened her window and saw a man who told her to close her window and stay inside, explaining that he is a Police Officer.
“They fired one round so I closed back my window and started to shout for help so that the neighbours could hear.
No one came out because the bandits started to fire gunshots into the air,” the woman explained.
The men subsequently escaped in the direction of the seashore. Police have since launched a manhunt.
