A Herstelling, East Bank Demerara (EBD) family is now terrified after they were beaten and robbed when gunmen invaded their home on Tuesday evening, carting off with close to $2 million in cash and jewellery.
Fifty-eight-year-old, Bibi Shaneeza Alli along with her son, 32-year-old Mohammed Alli, her daughter-in-law, 29-year-old Ameena Hassan and grandson, 13-year-old Saliman Alli were all at home when the incident occurred.
According to reports, the three gunmen carried out their attack by pretending to be customers. The family operates a grocery shop at their home.
Guyana Times was told that Hassan was in the shop, which is located in front of the house when a man entered and requested a pack of cigarettes.
However, another voice was heard coming from the side of the shop saying “they don’t sell cigarettes”.
An alerted Hassan reportedly decided to lock the shop door, however, in doing so, she was immediately confronted by another man who had already entered the yard.
Hassan and her 13-year-old son, who was also in the shop at the time, were both accosted and taken into their house. It was at that time that Mohammed Alli and Bibi Alli were held at gunpoint.
Mohammed Alli told this publication that he was laying on a bed in the living room when he was attacked and his phone was taken away.
Startled, the man relayed that he was then instructed to lay on the ground and Saliman Alli, who was at the time screaming, was placed next to him.
He recounted that he had some cash next to him which one the men took but later asked for more.
“They ask me for the rest which I give them because I does sell plantain chips so I had put some money to dry because it got wet in the rain so I give them all” the man disclosed.
The child was at this time reportedly screaming as the differently-abled teen could not understand what was occurring.
The father of the child, Mohammed Alli, revealed that after hitting the teen to his mouth, one of the gunmen placed a cloth over his face which they tied to muffle his screams.
After doing this, Hassan was escorted to the back of the house by another gunman who went in search of Bibi Shaneeza Alli.
According to the 58-year-old woman, she heard sounds and upon looking up, she saw one of the men with a gun pointed to her daughter-in-law’s head. In tears, the woman told this publication that she was extremely terrified.
“I pee up! The man then come and collect me and said if I scream, he will kill me so he took me into my daughter-in-law’s bedroom and he brought she in to” the woman revealed.
While inside the room, the woman revealed that the gunmen demanded valuables which she refused to hand over. As such, she was severely beaten about her face and body which caused her to fall semi-unconscious.
“I started to see blur, because the licks was too much and after that, even though me tell them that I will cooperate, them still beat me…my daughter-in-law end up handing over plenty money after they threatened to kill the Bia (Saliman Alli)” the woman recalled.
One of the perpetrators reportedly went into another room where he found close to $1 million and a large quantity of jewellery including eight gold chains and rings, a cricket band, twelve gold rings and several other electronic items.
“The money I was saving for long because my son gave me permission to build behind his house and now all gone…I don’t know what I will do, I have to start all over” the woman cried.
After gaining access to the cash, the three gunmen reportedly quickly escaped the scene of the crime.
The police were called and the women were escorted to the hospital where Bibi Alli received several stitches above her left eye.
The traumatised family is calling on the police to carry out proper investigations since up to press time the family was awaiting their return to dust for fingerprints.
“The police them aint really helping we, they came into the yard joking and laughing and up to now we waiting on them to come back for fingerprints like they promised”.
