"I read about many robberies in the newspapers
and saw it on the news on TV but I never know it was
like this. Only when you feel you can know," the
pastor who continues to thank God declared.
According to him, he, his wife and two children
were in their home around 3am on Monday when he heard
a strange sound coming from the outside window.
At first, the pastor said he thought it was his
dogs playing and he peeped through his bedroom window
to see what was happening and all seemed OK.
He told this newspaper that he returned to his bed
and about two minutes after he heard the sound again.
Rampersaud said he put on his pants and quietly opened
his bedroom door to investigate. As he did, he saw a
man with a gun raised, looking at him.
"Bandit!" the pastor shouted and slammed
the door. He said a bullet followed instantly and it
was only because he moved aside after closing the door
that he was not hit. The bullet pierced the plywood
door and flew through the window, piercing his
neighbour's outer wall.
Rampersaud said he and his wife ducked under their
bed and remained silent. "While we were under the
bed I heard one of them shouting 'we kill one ah dem!'
"
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With this, Rampersaud said, his 17-year-old
daughter who was occupying another room ducked under
her bed and hid. However, one of the bandits entered
the room and spotted her under the bed. The young lady
was grabbed by her hand and pulled from her hiding
place. She was beaten with gun butts and also
stripped
of her gold jewellery. Leaving her face down in the
hall of the house, the bandits entered her brother's
room. He received one cuff to his mouth as the bandits
dragged him off his bed and carried him outside. They
demanded cash and jewellery from him and also asked
him for the gold that his father usually sells.
Gun butt
The pastor said the bandits knew what business he
did and also had some knowledge as to the layout of
his house. While the boy was being interrogated,
Rampersaud said he silently prayed asking God to spare
their lives.
The younger Rampersaud took the bandits into his
parents' room and showed them the wardrobe where the
money and gold were stored. The money and gold were
being kept in a multicompartment bag, Rampersaud
explained.
He said from under the bed he noticed the bandits
trying to locate the money and gold in the bag but
because of their haste they did not check all the
compartments. Im-patient, they began brutalising the
children.
This caused his wife to emerge from under the bed
and assist them in finding the money and gold.
Not grateful for her help,
the bandits turned on Parbattie Rampersaud, beating
her with their gun butts. In the process, the woman's
nose was broken and her head was
dented with a lash. She still managed to locate the
money and gold and hand them over to the bandits, who
stuffed them back into the bag, grabbed the pastor's
attache case which was nearby and escaped.
Rampersaud
told this newspaper that a call was made to the
police, who responded 30
minutes after.
He said a nearby resident had
spotted the bandits before they had attacked his house
and telephoned the Leonora Police Station, alerting
them about the suspicious men. But the police
allegedly asked them how they knew the men were
bandits.
Rampersaud, who is the pastor of De Willem Nazarene
Church, said the bandits have left him a pauper. He
said church members pooled their resources and made a
donation to him which he used to grill his windows.
The Venezuela born pastor said he did his pastoral
duties as well as work as a goldsmith
