Three armed men on Saturday morning invaded the home of an East Coast Demerara family and carted off an undisclosed sum of cash and jewellery after severely beating four members of the household.

The robbery occurred at about 05:15h at Lot 52 Richardstown, Mon Repos, ECD. At the time of the robbery Jadunauth Singh along with his wife Maharani Singh and six other family were at home.

Reports are that the eldest son Kishan Singh went to the front of the house to put out his bird and he was confronted by three armed and masked men. They were wearing toques and their faces were covered with pieces of cloth.
Upon seeing the men the young man managed to run to the back of the house and raised an alarm. His father who was attending cattle was held hostage by one of the gunmen, who gun butted him to the head. The cattle farmer was then dragged into the house during which the gunmen demanded money and jewellery.
While in the house the bandits shifted their attention to Singh’s wife, who was preparing breakfast thus it was at this point that Singh senior managed to escape and raised an alarm, alerting neighbours of the robbery.
This caused the bandits to strike his wife several times to the head and dragged her to the upper flat where they continued to make demands. Out of fear the woman handed over a sum of money and a quantity of jewellery. “Meh grandchildren start scream hard hard and I think before them do them anything, leh me give over the money,” the traumatised woman related.
The men rushed out of the house towards a dark-coloured Toyota Carina car and escaped. While running out of the house, one of the men discharged at least two rounds into the air.
When Guyana Times visited the house, detectives were taking statements from the household.
Speaking with this newspaper, Singh related that it was only on Friday he sold a cow and the money was kept at home.
The traumatised man explained that he was kicked to the abdomen after he put up a fight. He noted that the men were wearing “shiny shoes”. He could not recognise any of them since they were all masked. He nevertheless is happy that his family is safe but is upset that the crime situation in Guyana is escalating without more intervention by Government.
Meanwhile, his son related that he was putting out his birds when he saw the men.
“I run to the back and holler “thief, bandits” and one of them grab me and one gun butt to head…another one give me one more to the head and drag me upstairs… they tek away the jewel I did wearing,” he added. He noted that one of the men had long hair wrapped in a ponytail and several of his teeth were ice (red), gold and green.
After the bandits left, Singh who is also a labourer at the La Bonne Intention Sugar Estate, took his injured son and wife to the hospital where they were treated and sent away.
Guyana Times understands that one of the man’s daughters-in-law hid in the washroom after she heard the heavy voices demanding money and jewellery.
The Police have since questioned several persons in the area as they intensify their investigations. (Bhisham Mohamed)