Businesswoman
dupes
gunmen
at Annandale shopping
centre
By
Nigel Williams
Three young men armed
with shotguns attempted
to rob an Annandale
businessman in broad
daylight yesterday, but
their efforts were
foiled when the
businessman's wife
managed to escape the
grasp of one of the
bandits and flee into a
neighbour's yard.
Stabroek News
understands that the
youths are residents of
the immediate
neighbourhood and one of
them was positively
identified since he had
frequented the business
premises prior to
yesterday's attack.
Speaking to this
newspaper yesterday,
proprietor of Ace
Shopping Centre located
at Annandale South, East
Coast Demerara,
Bhagwandin, said that he
was not home at the time
but his wife, Hamagie,
was in the store when
the three men entered
around 10:30 am and
asked her the price of a
bottle of skin cream.
Bhagwandin, a
businessman for over
five years, said his
wife told him that she
went close to the
counter and was about to
respond to the men when
one of them held on to
her blouse.
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Wounded!
Hamagie
Bhagwandin with
her wounded
right hand
yesterday.
Ace
Shopping Centre
located at
Annandale South
ECD.
(Clairmonte
Marcus photo)
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He
said that while the man
held her with one hand
he hit her on her head
with his gun and also
wounded her left hand as
he demanded that she
give him all of the
money.
Bhagwandin said that his
wife told the bandit to
take the money but he
made no effort to do so
but rather kept holding
on to her hand. He
reported that his wife
wrestled with the man
and succeeded in
slipping under the
counter. She then
crawled her way out of
the shop, scaled a fence
and escaped into her
neighbour's yard. He
said that the men stood
behind the counter for a
little while thinking
that Hamagie had gone to
get the money for them
and after realising that
she was not returning
they ran south along the
road and departed in the
direction of Buxton.
According to the
businessman, his wife
told him that the men
were all young and
unmasked and one of them
made purchases at the
store every now and
then.
Bhagwandin said he was
alerted that a group of
young men from the
neighbourhood were in
the habit of robbing
residents of Coldingen
at night. He said that
he had now become
disgusted with the
situation in the
country, noting that
despite the many
promises from the
government nothing has
changed.
The businessman observed
that his business place
was fully grilled and
the fact that he was a
businessman meant that
he would be out on the
road most of the time.
He urged that the
government speed up the
process of issuing
businessmen with high-calibre
weaponry which he said
could aid in fighting
against the hardened
criminals who were
better equipped.
The man spoke about the
presence of the Guyana
Defence Force in the
neighbourhood, claiming
that the armed ranks
were only concentrating
their efforts in one
area while the other
villages were left
unattended.
Bhagwandin declared that
despite all that was
happening he would still
continue to operate his
business. "How long
will you hide and close
up your door because of
bandits? After all you
have to eat, you have to
survive some how, but
this government must
provide proper
protection for
citizens," the
businessman said.
Meanwhile, a report was
made to the police who
are carrying out
investigations.
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