A headteacher and a nurse were recent victims of armed bandits operating in the desolate Tucber Park community in New Amsterdam, Berbice.
Reports reaching this publication state that three men, each masked and carrying a handgun, attacked and robbed 51-year-old Moira Thomas, Head Teacher of the Zorg Primary School, as she was about to park her motor cycle in her yard at Tucber Park in New Amsterdam, Berbice.
Thomas explained to this publication that she had left home at about 21:30h on Wednesday to purchase dinner. She returned shortly afterwards, and was in the process of mounting her motor cycle on its stand when she was held from behind and a cold piece of metal was placed against her neck.
“They tell me not to scream, but I loose the bike and it fall, and I start to scream out of fright; and then I see is three of them, and the two in front of me had what appeared to be guns in their hands, so I calm myself down,” Thomas detailed.
She said that by that time she had fallen to the ground, and began begging for her life while indicating that she would give the bandits whatever they wanted. But even before she had so said, the box of food was pulled from her hand. The men also took a pouch containing her driver’s licence and other documents for her motor cycle.
“They just collect everything and run out the yard, and I get up and start running to go inside; but I had to turn back to turn off the bike and take out the key, because the house key and the bike key (are) on the same bunch,” she said.
Thomas said she called the Police and informed them of what had transpired, even as she expressed fear that the bandits might return now that she was inside the house. She said she was told that a patrol was in the area.
The woman said she also called one of her daughters and several friends, and related the incident as she waited for the Police to arrive.
Police a no-show
At about 01:30h on Thursday, still in fright because she had not seen the Police, Thomas called a taxi, and when it arrived, she left her home and went to a relative’s home to sleep.
“When the taxi come I peep outside, and then I run out the house and in the taxi with speed,” she detailed.
She said that when she returned home at about 06:30h on Thursday, there were two officers in her yard. They said they were responding to a call. She said the officers told her that they were given the wrong direction.
“They say that I was hysterical and so the direction (I gave them) was wrong. They lie! I know I give them the right direction to my house every time I call. What about my daughter? What about my friends? They were hysterical?” she questioned.
Thomas has since filed a report of the Police action, or rather lack of action.
On the evening prior to Thomas’s attack, three men — also carrying guns — held a nurse at gunpoint as she was walking home in Tucber Park, New Amsterdam. The men escaped with the woman’s cash, jewelry and a cellular phone.
Significantly, that incident took place just outside of Thomas’s premises.
Police say they are investigating both incidents.
