By Andrew Carmichael
The Police in Berbice are hunting a male suspect, who broke and entered the dwelling house of a Corentyne man on Tuesday, before robbing and allegedly raping him.
The 22-year-old victim, who migrated from the United Kingdom to Guyana, told Guyana Times that he was up at 04:30h on Tuesday morning and was having a telephone conversation with a close relative in Europe.
The man had been living alone for the past several months.
He said he heard a strange sound and soon after noticed a window being pushed open. At first, he thought it was ‘something evil’ and was advised by the person on the phone to close the window.
After he did there was a voice demanding that he opens the door and shortly after one of the bedroom windows was smashed.
The traumatised young man said at about 05:00h, he telephoned the Number 51 Village Police Station and told them that someone was attempting to break into his home.
According to the man, a male wearing a short pair of trousers allegedly climbed through the bedroom window and he gave the man all the money he had and the man who used his shirt to form a mask over his face, also picked up his cellular phone and then said that is not what he was there for.
“He told me that he was here to have sex with me,” the young man said.
The man related that a chopper was allegedly held to his neck and he was told that he will be killed if he did not cooperate. The robbery victim said he was then sodomised.
“I had to cooperate because the chopper was at my neck,” he blurted out.
Speaking of the attack, the victim referred to his attacker as having a smell which led him to believe that the man had been living in the bushes.
According to the victim, the man remained in the house until daylight and at almost 07:00h, the Police arrived. He said had the Police responded promptly, they could have prevented the incident from occurring and even if they were not prompt but had responded in a timely manner, the attacker could have been caught.
The Police were called in and they visited the scene and escorted the victim to the Skeldon Public Hospital where he was examined by a doctor, who confirmed that he was indeed sodomised.
According to the man, the attacker as he was about to leave said he was going to return the cellular phone.
Meanwhile, Police Divisional Commander (Assistant Commissioner) Paul Williams said the information he received differed slightly from what was told to this newspaper.
He said the report the Police received was that the intruder entered through a door and not a window. He added that when he first heard of the alleged incident, there were no issue as it related to the Police’s response time.
“What I learnt is that the person who visited the gentleman (victim), they know each other. The person appealed to him to open the door because he wanted to have sex with him and he refused to open the door. The person then decided to force his way into the house.”
The Police Commander is questioning why from the time the person entered the building and was there for something, had the householder not notified the Police, since he claimed the intruder’s presence was unwanted. He said the Police were told that it was after the person entered the house and would have completed the alleged sex act then the Police were called.
“I don’t know what time he would have called, but what I was made to understand is that when they would have received the report was when the act was already committed. Our information is that when the person was there and telling him that he wanted to come in, he never called,” Williams explained. The Police are continuing their investigation.
