– Car used in robbery found abandoned in Georgetown

LAW enforcement officers are in search of three men who Wednesday robbed the Eccles, East Bank Demerara (EBD) home of Clement Rohee, a former Home Affairs Minister and the current general-secretary of the opposition PPP, and beat his two maids in their search for money and gold. The police have since recovered the car that was used to drop and pick up the men. It was found abandoned on Croal street in Georgetown hours after the robbery. The police were also able to get fingerprints from the vehicle and from Rohee’s house.
At approximately 11:30 hrs, the men, armed with guns and a knife, entered the back door of Rohee’s home and held his two maids hostage as they searched for gold and money. The backdoor of the Eccles property was left open by one of the maids.

Rohee told reporters that he received a call Wednesday morning while at work informing him of the robbery. He said his domestic helpers were duct-taped and beaten by the angry men who had demanded money and gold from them. When the maids claimed they had no knowledge of the valuables in the house, they were kicked about their bodies. The ordeal lasted approximately 20 minutes, they said.
“[They] tied them up with duct tape, took them upstairs to the upper flat [and] began demanding gold and cash. Of course, they know nothing about that. They assaulted them for a brief while, a few kicks and so on; they began to ransack the house from top to bottom,” said Rohee.
Neither Rohee nor his wife was at home at the time of the incident. He said the police are currently reviewing security surveillance to determine who the three men are and the owner of the vehicle used to drop and pick them up from the location.
An undisclosed amount of local and foreign cash and jewellery were removed from the house, said Rohee, who disclosed that his wife had left for work around 07:30 hrs, while he left around 09:30 hrs.
“We have not been able to establish the total sum of money – a combination of foreign and local currency,” he told reporters after investigators left his Lot 6&7 Ixora Avenue, Eccles, EBD home.
The former Minister of Home Affairs said his firearm was not removed from where it was stowed and can only assume that the bandits did not see or touch it. It was only Monday when Rohee had expressed concern about the state of crime in Guyana during his party’s weekly press conference.
He is unsure of whether the robbery was random, noting, “I can’t say really you know… there had to be something make they came to this specific house and leave the others in the neighbourhood.”
Rohee explained that his wife is the owner of the property and noted that “nobody lived there before; this house was built by my wife when she came back from working with the embassy in Washington.”
He said the robbery of the Eccles house was not isolated, as there have been similar cases in the area as of recent.
“This kind of incident is very prevalent in the Eccles area…not because it has touched me, but a significant number of people have come to recognise that the crime situation is becoming more or less intolerable.”
As word spread of the robbery, members of the PPP/C visited Rohee’s home to provide support. Many of them were heard condemning the crime situation in the country while noting that “nothing is being done to reduce crime.”

Former Minister of Amerindian Affairs, Pauline Sukhai ,who lives opposite Rohee and Member of Parliament Nigel Dharamlall, along with other well-wishers, were seen at the Eccles house as a team of investigators carried out their investigations.
Meanwhile, a surveillance video seen by the Guyana Chronicle shows three persons being dropped off by a car; one of the bandits was carrying a backpack. Neighbours were in shock when they learnt of the robbery, noting that they had no clue that the former minister’s house was being robbed.
“Excuse me, is what happening over there by Mr Rohee?” asked one neighbour who when told said, “Oh my God, we were right here and we didn’t see anything.”
The said Eccles resident requested anonymity and told the Guyana Chronicle that recently she saw a young man on a bicycle traversing the street. The man spoke with Rohee’s security and told him he was looking for the wake of his aunt.
The said man was seen observing that resident’s house and when the resident enquired as to his motive, he said he was looking for the wake of his uncle.
“This is sickening, people work very hard for their things; something has got to be done about these people,” the angry resident stated.
Last week, President David Granger pleaded with citizens to be patient as his government works to implement crime-fighting strategies. He believes that the initiatives already implemented by the Ministry of Public Security are having an effect on the crime situation facing the country.
The Guyana Police Force had stated that as of September, serious crimes were down 19 per cent across the country.