Pensioner beaten as armed bandits rob Corentyne family

By Andrew Carmichael

A 67-year-old pensioner was beaten in the presence of her two grandchildren when armed bandits invaded the family’s home at Port Mourant on Thursday evening.
The incident took place at about 19:00h at Lot 270 Ankerville, Port Mourant, Berbice and in the presence of the pensioner’s two terrified grandchildren.
The pensioner, Ahilyah Akunjebehari, was relaxing under the house with her 12-

year-old grandson and was being visited by her 22-year-old granddaughter and her baby when two men appeared suddenly. One of the men quickly unscrewed the bulb in the yard, thereby diminishing visibility by any onlooker.
The other men carried a gun and a piece of metal pipe. According to Akunjebehari, she was struck in the head before they raided her home and robbed her of various items.
“Just as they approached me one put a gun to my head and said don’t run.”
The pensioner explained that the men demanded cash and jewellery. She said one of the bandits removed the four gold rings she was wearing on her left hand.
“I don’t know how much for those jewellery, dem gold ring make very long; is my mother had given them to me a long time ago,” the 67-year-old woman related.
Meanwhile, threats were also made to take away her grandson if she did not cooperate and provide the robbers with what they wanted.
“Me beg them alyu nah carry away me grandson; what you all gon carry he and do wid am,” she related.
She said she was then lashed on the head with the gun again. However, the elderly woman remained focused but scared and invited the robbers to go into the house and take whatever they wanted but cautioned them to spare their lives.
Her grandson, she said, was told to sit on the ground and raise his hands in the air as he sat. According to her, the bandit carrying the iron pipe went inside her home and searched for several minutes. During that time, he collected US$600 and approximately $40,000 local currency from a bag.
Akunjebehari said the men also carried away an electronic tablet which was next to her when they arrived. “The tablet I does use to go on Facebook,” she explained.
Meanwhile, from the time the intruders got on the premises, the woman’s two-year-old great grandson seemed terrified. According to his mother, Vidya Kallooram, the baby was crying and it is his cries that might have alerted neighbours.
Kallooram said she was instructed to nurse the baby but told the robber that the baby does not nurse. She was then instructed to hold the infant and prevent him from crying.
The men left the same way they entered the yard, jumping the back fence. They disappeared into the bushes at the back of Ankervillle and headed towards the Bangladesh area.
Akunjebehari says following their exit, she and the others quickly went inside and called the Police who arrived shortly after. Hours later, bandits struck again in the same street.
While Akunjebehari lives at the end of the street – about half a mile from the Corentyne Highway – bandits broke into a home situated four houses from the highway along the same street popularly, called ‘Dispensary Dam’.
Reports are that at Lot 159 Ankerville, Port Mourant, a kitchen was broken into. This publication understands that the incident occurred sometime between 02:00h and 07:00h on Thursday morning.
The bandits turned two surveillance cameras towards the wall, as they broke into the kitchen and removed two gas stoves and two gas cylinders and fittings.
The men also took away an electric saw. Losses are estimated at $130,000. The Police are investigating both incidents. No one has been arrested.