A bandit was accidently shot and killed by his accomplice while making their escape after robbing an East Bank Berbice family during the wee hours of Sunday.
The dead bandit has been identified as Odan Lallbeharry called “Stew”, 45, of New Forest, East Canje, Berbice.
According to reports, “Stew” was among five armed men who invaded and robbed the Edinburg Village home of shop owner Nankumar Datt and it was while they were escaping that he was shot and left behind by his accomplices.
“During (the robbery) one of the suspects received gunshot injuries in the process of exiting the premises and was later pronounced dead on arrival at the New Amsterdam Hospital,” a Police report said.
According to the Police, the incident occurred sometime around 01:30h.
Datt’s eldest daughter, Kelly, related the ordeal to Guyana Times on Sunday when she explained that she was awoken by the sound of persons walking on the zinc shed attached to their two-storey house and shortly after her father shouted that bandits were coming, they should run.
“But when he shouts that, the bandits hear and so they hurry and break the window to my sister’s room and come in the house. She was trying to open the room door to get out but she was having a hard time so they catch and start beating her,” the traumatised Kelly related.
The 21-year-old said that she was then confronted by two men and tried to prevent them from getting to her father, who escaped to seek help. Their mother was in hiding at the time.
She said that the men began shouting for her father by his call-name “Ball Head” and after they were unable to locate him, they began beating her and her 19-year-old sister. At time there were five men in total, all of whom were masked, she stated.
“They beat us bad… they were hitting us with a cutlass; then they told us to put on the lights, and asked for money,” the young woman recalled.
She went on to say that three of them remained upstairs with her sister while two of them forced her downstairs into the shop, where she handed over some money, while they picked up a quantity of phone cards.
“They bring down my sister and continue to beat her and after some time took us back upstairs and asked for more money. So I tell them they have to search the place but then my mother came out and give them the money ($100,000) because they start beating me and my sister again,” she recounted.
Kelly further told this newspaper that the men also took away her mother’s gold bracelet and some artificial jewellery that she and her sister were wearing, before escaping.
“They told us not to move from the upstairs so they stay right there and then we hear two gunshots in the downstairs and we get scared because we thought was my father get shoot,” she stated.
The young woman said that they remained upstairs for a few minutes until they heard noises from neighbours and came downstairs. She noted that when they came down and got outside, they saw a man lying outside on the bridge, while her father was with the neighbours who were gathering around. The Police then arrived at the scene.
In a subsequent statement, the Police said that they arrived on the scene at about 02:00, and found the injured bandit on the businessman’s bridge, clad in dark clothing and a pair of construction gloves.
The Police added that the suspect was taken to the hospital for treatment but succumbed to his injuries.
Police say they managed to extract some vital information from the bandit before he succumbed.
That information led to the arrest of two individuals who are currently in custody assisting with the investigations.
