Family member
attacks bandits with stones
By
Neil Marks
AN ALEXANDER Village, Greater Georgetown resident risked his life in
fighting off armed bandits who attacked his brother's family business
in the area Friday night.
Family business
Debra
Persaud said that around 19:30 hrs she was sitting in a hammock in front of
the wholesale business outlet at Third Street when she saw five strange
looking men walking towards her.
She said
she alerted her husband, Deoraj Jagdeo, telling him that the men looked like
thieves.
No
sooner had Jagdeo emerged from inside his store than the men attacked him,
lashing him on the back with a cutlass.
Continuous blows followed, Jagdeo told the Chronicle.
Debra Persaud
Debra Persaud
(wife) said she also received lashes from the cutlass,
including one across her chest.
One of the five men stood in front of the store.
Deoraj Jagdeo
The men attacked Deoraj, lashing him on the back with a cutlass.
According
to eyewitnesses, he had one gun each in his two hands, while two others were
strapped about his waist.
Jagdeo's
brother, Jerry, was just opposite where the robbery was taking place and he
soon saw what was going on.
He
pelted a `good size brick' at the man who was beating Persaud.
The man
with the gun started firing in Jerry's direction and he constantly dodged the
bullets, which shattered the glass on the right side doors of his car.
Jerry said he continued to hurl stones as he wanted to prevent the man from going towards a parked mini-bus, which his niece was in.
The
men also beat the businessman's son, Randy, using the butt
of the gun to hit him on the head.
Meantime,
the men also beat the businessman's son, Randy, using the butt of the gun to
hit him on the head.
The
businessman's employee, Hemchand Manbodh suffered the same fate.
A security guard who was in the shop at the time was also beaten, and his money and jewellery stolen.
According
to Persaud, she had put together $416,000 to deposit in the bank
on Friday, but she ran late, having had to take care of relatives who arrived
in the country that morning.
The
bandits took off with that money and other valuables belonging to the family.
Jagdeo
said the stolen cash was what he collected from two days' sales.
He
imports dry goods for wholesale.
When the
men calmly walked away from the area, Jerry said he was about to enter his car
when neighbours told him that his right foot was bleeding.
Then is
when he found out that he had been shot in his right leg. He was taken to the
Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) for treatment and was home
yesterday.
Irate
residents said they called the Ruimveldt Police Station when the incident was
ongoing, but they were informed that the station does not take reports over
the phone.
"When
bullets firing all about, who they (the Police) expect to go to the
station?", one woman angrily asked.
Jagdeo
said that after the incident Friday night, two Policemen showed up at their
place and casually talked to them.
According
to Persaud, Randy and Hemchand were told to go and take a medical at the GPHC,
but they soon left as no consideration was shown to their disposition at the
time and they were asked to sit and wait on a countless number of persons.
Jagdeo
said he was told not to open his store until the Police returned.
However,
up until 13:00 hrs yesterday, no Police rank had visited, he said.
Sunday, August 25, 2002