Ali's wife said that three of the men
entered the house while one of them
remained downstairs. She said that one
of the attackers held a gun to her
baby's head and threatened to pull the
trigger if Ali, who was hiding in the
bedroom at the time, did not come out to
them.
She said that when he came out the
bandit gave her the baby and started to
beat Ali with one of the guns, then hit
his head against a wall. He is now
nursing wounds to his head and shoulders
at home.
Balgobin and other members of her
household said that there were four
bandits, but other residents of
Coldingen later told Stabroek News that
there were six of them.
Balgobin said that one of the gunmen
relieved her of $9,000, a band and a
ring from the baby. They also took a
tape recorder, which they abandoned
behind the house. This article is in
police custody, Balgobin said.
She said too that when the bandits
entered they asked whether or not the
occupants of the house had a cell phone,
the answer to which was 'no'. At the
time two of the children were asleep,
she said.
She recounted that one of the men put
a knife to her throat demanding that she
open the door to the verandah so that
they could see if anyone was hiding
there.
Samantha's mother Kaliane told
Stabroek News that her husband was not
at home at the time of the attack. She
recounted that she was sitting on the
verandah when she saw four men coming
towards the yard. She told Stabroek News
that she crept inside to tell the others
in the house that the bandits were
coming.
Upon their arrival, the bandits
demanded that the door be opened and
then fired the shot at the window. From
the position of the bullet hole in the
bedroom wall, it appears as if the shot
was fired by someone who had been
standing on the stairs.
Two of the men had guns while one had
a knife and one a spear, according to
Kaliane, who was robbed of $4,000, a
ring and a pair of gold earrings. One of
the bandits also hit her in the face,
giving her a black eye.
She said that somebody must have
called the police because they do not
have a phone.
One of the men, while leaving the
home, apparently forgot his gun in one
of the chairs and it was not until he
was downstairs that he remembered it and
returned.
The bandits then went south to a
nearby house, which they entered, but
did not take anything. A neighbour told
Stabroek News that her husband had
jumped the back fence on the men's
approach to the house. He escaped with
minor scratches.
Another neighbour in the house at the
time recounted that he was by the window
through which the men shot and he
fainted. He said that he fell behind
some chairs and the bandits did not see
him.
Savitri Lalman, another neighbour in
the house at the time, said that one of
the men hit her in the head and on the
arm with a gun. He also punched her in
the face. Their ordeal in this house
lasted 15 minutes.
Another household two lots to the
north was attacked and robbed of about
$3,000. Hansranie Seeodat, 23, said that
around 7.30 pm three men walked up the
stairs while another three stood at the
gate. She said that after her husband
opened the door, the men slapped him in
the face while demanding money and
jewellery. The men made her empty all
her ration bags while they kicked him.
The bandits, she said, threatened her
two-year-old daughter by placing a gun
to her head. "They say if I don't
give them the money they will kill
her," she said. She said that the
men had three guns and warned them not
to look out of the window as they were
about to leave.
She said that on the night of the
attack the police came and her husband,
Kamishwerdat Seeodat, spoke with them.
He was asked to visit the Vigilance
Police Station to make an official
report which he did yesterday.
At yet another nearby house, one of
the occupants told this newspaper that
only two members of the community
policing group were on duty at the time.
She said that a woman went to the
group's base and told them that five
bandits were robbing houses in the
scheme. She said that as she and a group
member sat on a bench the bandits
arrived. Two of them went to the house
while another three went to the group's
base. They reportedly put the woman to
lie on the ground. Three of the five men
who she saw had guns, while the other
two had knife and a bow and arrow each.
The woman is thankful that the men
were not able to get into the house, as
her children were locked in from the
outside. Her six children are aged 12,
11, eight, six, five and two. They had
been home alone.
The woman told Stabroek News that one
of the men grabbed her husband, who had
been returning from the shop and took
him to one of the houses.
After this encounter, the men went to
other homes to the south of the scheme,
the woman said.
She described two of the firearms as
handguns while one appeared to be a
shotgun. She also described the men as
being nicely dressed in Nike and
Timberland boots.
The woman's account of the events
indicates that her encounter with the
men might have been the beginning of the
Coldingen scheme's night of terror. At
the other house which was robbed, no one
was at home when Stabroek News visited.
When contacted yesterday, the Police
Public Relations Department had no
information on the robbery.
Wednesday night's attack seems to
signal a resurgence in the avalanche of
crimes which had been launched earlier
this year and last year by criminals in
Buxton on nearby villages. On Monday
evening, a gang from Buxton waylaid a
minibus and shot its driver, Francis
Parmanand Singh, dead. Prior to this
there had been several attacks on
residents in villages near to Buxton.
