By
Shabna
Ullah |
Monday, March
29, 2010
A Hampshire,
Corentyne resident succumbed
to gunshot injuries he sustained
when four masked bandits stormed his house around
7:30 pm on Saturday and stole almost $1M in cash
and jewellery.
Hansraj Samaroo, 49, a fruit vendor at the New
Amsterdam market for the past 28 years was shot in
his left leg and bled profusely from his wounds.
He was rushed to the NA Hospital and was said to
be in a critical condition on arrival there.
Police said he was later transferred to the
Georgetown Public Hospital where he succumbed to
his injuries.
His wife Kumarie ‘Leila’ Samaroo, 49, said
his sons, Rishie, 28 and Samuel, 19 were with him
at the hospital around noon when he died. Police
sources told this newspaper last evening that four
persons have since been taken into custody.
Recounting the ordeal, Kumarie said she was in
the kitchen downstairs cooking when she turned
around and came face to face with one of the
bandits. She said he told her not to “holler”
and ordered her to lie on the floor.
She nevertheless started to shout for Rishie.
She also tried to alert her husband who was
watching television upstairs, that the two other
bandits were heading his way.
Unsolved
murder
Within a few minutes, she said, she heard
gunshots and she ran up to investigate. She saw
her husband lying on the floor, bleeding.
The bandits stripped her of her gold jewellery
she was wearing at the time, including five
bangles and six finger rings.
They also rifled through her husband’s
pockets and took out $20,000 and a cellular phone.
Samaroo said she was sitting by her husband’s
side, crying when the bandits started to hit her
on her head and about her body with the gun butt
while demanding more cash. “They tell me that is
not all the money and that I must go and bring the
bag that had more.”
They then ransacked her wardrobe and found two
bags containing $300,000 and $200,000 as well as
US$1,500. The woman said she begged the bandits
not to kill them.
One of them then said to his accomplices:
“Leh we beat out; we get everything” and they
escaped on foot.
The man leaves to mourn his wife and two sons
as well as his daughters: Ruth, 24 who resides in
Trinidad and seven-year-old Aliyah. (Shabna
Ullah)