The elderly couple is still traumatised after they were attacked in their Enmore home

An elderly couple is now traumatised after two men barged into their Enmore, East Coast Demerara, home which is currently under construction and terrorised them.

Naranjan Persaud, 58, and his 56-year-old wife Zoreena Persaud, of Lot 315 Hope East, Enmore, live alone and their house is currently under construction.

Guyana Times understands that around 18:30h on Wednesday, the couple was in the front room of the flat house when two men entered the building and demanded the “construction money”.

This newspaper understands that the doors are yet to be installed on the building, which gave the men easy access to the home. The men gagged the woman but her moaning alerted neighbours that something was amiss.

The two men upon realising that neighbours were alerted hurriedly departed leaving behind a hat, a knife, one side sneaker and a corkscrew opener. After an alarm was raised, persons from the area gave chase and managed to apprehend one of the men. He was dealt a sound thrashing before being handed over to the Police.

A traumatised Persaud, who is an amputee, told Guyana Times that immediately after the men entered the house, they realized that he was confined to a wheelchair and turned their attention to his wife.

“They attack my wife with the knife asking her ‘where is the construction money… where is the pounds (British currency) we need to have it or else you will die,” he recalled. Persaud recalled that the men then forced his wife on the floor and tired to stuff her mouth with a piece of cloth because she was making a lot of noise.

Persaud said he told the men that if they gagged his wife, she would be unable to speak and they would not know where the money was hidden. Upon hearing this, the men pressured the woman to speak up but by that time, a neighbour was heard calling at the gate.

“By then, they realised someone is coming so they made their exist, leaving behind their belongings… our back neighbour was outside sitting down, which is normal, and they heard the hollering and they suspected so one of the boys come and call out to my wife and that’s how they get away,” Persaud stated.

Meanwhile, his wife, Zoreena, pointed out to this publication that the Police only visited the house on Wednesday night after the robbery and never returned, despite them reporting that the perpetrators left several items behind.

When this newspaper visited house on Thursday, the items including the knife were still on the ground in the yard.

Furthermore, the woman pointed out that the Police seemed unwilling to investigate the incident. “When we go to the outpost the night, they treating us as if we were the criminals. They say is not a break and enter and is not a robbery. How it’s not a robbery? How yuh can tell me wan thing like that, that it’s not a robbery, that it’s not a break and enter?,” she questioned.

The couple believes that the Police would have only taken the matter seriously, if the perpetrators had injured or kill one or both of them.