Gas station employees Prakash Seenarine, 32, and Darren Reddy, 21, attacked and robbed while on duty at their place of employment at Main and King Streets in New Amsterdam, Berbice on Saturday evening, are now in a traumatised state, especially after their lives had been threatened if they failed to comply with the bandits’ instructions.
Based on reports received, the two employees were pounced on by two armed men while another accomplice was seen “keeping watch” on King Street. The incident occurred at about 20:15hrs.
Guyana Times was informed that the bandits had placed both victims to lie on the ground before relieving them of some $86,000 belonging to the company in an ordeal that lasted for mere minutes; and fled the scene on foot in an easterly direction along King Street, in company of their waiting accomplice.
Police are in the process of reviewing the CCTV footage attached to the gas station as investigations continue.

POLICE are investigating the murder of a labourer who succumbed to a stab wound allegedly inflicted by his common-law wife at Dredge Creek, on the Upper Pomeroon River on Monday.

Reports are that Alfro Adams, called “Fro”, of Moruca, North West District, was involved in a fight with his common-law wife at the woman’s aunt’s home in Dredge Creek on Monday.
The two have been together for the past six years and have an 18-month-old child together.
According to the police, investigations revealed that Adams regularly consumes alcohol and would abuse his wife, so the woman decided to leave their Moruca home and head for the Pomeroon River to stay with an aunt.
It was at the said aunt’s home, the police say, that an argument between the two ensued, and Adams assaulted her.
The woman, in turn, allegedly picked up a pair of scissors she was earlier using to make handicraft and stabbed Adams to the right of his chest.
She subsequently ran away, while her relatives took Adams to the Charity Hospital to seek medical attention, but he died around 17:00hrs.
The suspect remains on the run.

By Andrew Carmichael

Two homes in West Canje, Berbice, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) were burglarised on Sunday night and more than $1 million in valuables stolen. At the time of the separate break and enter incidents, no one was in either of the houses located in the same yard.

The family was out for the weekend when the intruders hit. When they returned on Monday morning, it was discovered that their Lot 40 Mount Sinai homes were broken into. Mount Sinai is one of the suburbs of New Amsterdam and is frequently referred to as Angoy’s Avenue.
The homes are situated in the same yard, where three houses are occupied by siblings. Devi Kowlessar told Guyana Times that she along with her husband, children and her other relatives left for a trip to the Corentyne at about 17:00h on Saturday; securing both homes before they left.
At about 9:00h on Monday, a neighbour telephoned her saying that the doors on two of the houses were opened. She said she contacted a brother who confirmed that the houses were broken into. According to Kowlessar, when they returned, they found both homes in disarray.
She explained that the bandits made off with an unused grass slashing machine valued $146,000, in excess of $400,000 worth gold jewellery, a laptop computer and a quantity of US currency from her home.
Meanwhile, her sister, Rookmin Dindyal told this publication that her daughter’s diamond wedding ring worth US$1600, along with local and foreign currency, were taken from her home.
According to Dindyal, at the time her home was broken into, she was keeping $200,000 which belongs to her church. That money, she said, was not found by the intruders.
The Police were summoned and have since dusted for fingerprints as they continue their investigations.

Chicken pen drug bust

Businessman Devon Fordyce of Lot 45 Dartmouth Village, Essequibo Coast was

on Monday arraigned before Charity Magistrate Esther Sam on a narcotics trafficking charge alleging that on August 19th, at about 17:30h, ranks swooped down on his premises to conduct a search, and unearthed 1539 grams of cannabis and 32 grams of cocaine in various sections of the house and in a chicken pen in the yard.
Unrepresented by legal counsel, the 40-year-old defendant denied the charge, but was remanded to September 3rd, when next the case will be called. (Indra Nathram)

AN East Bank Demerara man sustained a gunshot wound on Monday during a daring mid-afternoon robbery at the corner Vlissengen Road and Lamaha Street in the city.

Roshan Rampersaud was driving a Toyota pick-up along the busy roadway and was awaiting the traffic light to change to green when he was pounced on by two men.

Closed circuit television (CCTV) footage showed the man being attacked by two men who hauled him out of his vehicle even as the traffic began to move. The men were seen frisking Rampersaud as he stood haplessly. Motorists drove by nonchalantly.

Reports are that the men had trailed their victim, who undertook a business transaction prior to the robbery.

The man sustained a gunshot wound to his leg and was briefly hospitalised during the afternoon on Monday.

The police are investigating the incident.

AN employee of Ali’s Gas Station escaped unhurt last Saturday night when one of two bandits walked up to him with a gun and relieved him of the night’s sales and fled.

Commander ‘B’ Division, Paul Williams, told the Guyana Chronicle that at about 19:30hrs on Saturday night a pump attendant was on duty at the service station located on Main and Coburg Streets, New Amsterdam when the robbers pounced on him.

He related that one gunman walked up to the pump attendant and snatched the money out of his hands, which amounted to about $80,000 and fled with his accomplice, who was keeping watch nearby.

Williams added that so far, no arrest has been made but an investigation is under way. The robbery was captured on close circuit television (CCTV) cameras.

THE tomb of 26-year-old Winston Hinds, the prisoner who was shot dead at the Timehri prison on August 4, was on Tuesday night vandalised and Hinds stripped of the fake jewellery he was buried with.

The discovery was made on Wednesday by family members, who were informed of what happened.

When they turned up at the Christianburg Cemetery, the newly constructed tomb was broken open, while Hind’s body remained in the casket. The fake gold chain and ring that he was buried in were gone.

Mother of the deceased, Vanessa Bess, told Guyana Chronicle that her son was buried with the jewellery but it was not real. The family just wanted to send him off the way he used to dress. The thieves, however, forgot the proverb, “All the glitters is not gold” and will soon find that out upon trying to sell the jewellery.

Bess said what is more heart-breaking is the Linden Mayor and Town Council (LMTC) requested $40, 000 from her to have the tomb redone.

“Sweet heart, I don’t have a cent, I don’t know where I will get $40, 000 from. I am a poor woman, I just bury my son,” the frustrated Bess explained.

Fortunately, however, upon visiting the LMTC after such a request was made, to make her plight known, a decision was made by the Council to drop the monetary request.

In addition, Bess is refuting claims made in some sections of the media that she received compensation from the Guyana Prison Authority after the death of her son.

She said that no compensation was given to her but she did receive assistance with the burial of her son. Bess is also calling for a thorough investigation to be done into the death of her son, claiming that the post-mortem findings contrtadict the explanation given by the prison authorities.

The grieving mother said she witnessed the post-mortem of her son and the findings show that he was shot to the abdomen, while the prison authorities are saying that he was shot while trying to escape.

Director of Prisons Gladwin Samuels had noted that the murder accused had repeatedly ignored all warnings issued by prison officers. Samuels said several prisoners, who were armed with improvised weapons, were involved in ‘a serious physical altercation.

Hinds was remanded to prison on January 2016, for the February 2015 killing of Richard Remington at Cholmondeley Hill, Wismar. Remington’s decomposing remains were found in a clump of bushes along a track in the vicinity of Matthew’s Lane at Christianburg, February 12 last year.

Bess, however, is professing her son’s innocence in the matter, since she claims he was not even in Linden at the time.

Linden businessman Lloyd Thomas, accused of discharging a loaded firearm at Anthony Rogers with intent to maim, disfigure, disable, or cause him actual bodily harm, was on Wednesday arraigned before Georgetown Magistrate Annette Singh, charged with the offence.

Unrepresented by legal counsel, the 43-year-old defendant denied the charge, allegedly committed on August 17, 2017 at Sand Hills on the Linden-Soesdyke Highway, and explained to the court that he was on the road when he was attacked by a bandit who attempted to snatch a gold chain that he was wearing at the time. Thomas said he put up a fight, during which he was able to disarm the bandit of his gun, and he used it to shoot the bandit.
Because the Police Prosecutor did not object to the defendant being placed on bail, Thomas was placed on $50,000 bail, and was ordered to report to the police station nearest to his home until the conclusion of this matter. The case will continue on September 11.

Thirty-five-year-old Fernanda Laita of the Region 9 community of Aishalton, South Rupununi was on Wednesday arraigned before Georgetown Magistrate Judy Latchman on a charge detailing that, on August 17, at Aishalton Village, South Rupununi, Region Nine, he was found with 96 grams of cannabis in his possession for the purpose of trafficking.
Unrepresented by legal counsel, the father of two minors admitted to the charge, and in a plea of mitigation, told the magistrate that the drugs were for the use of his mother and grandmother, who are both ill.
“If it wasn’t for my mother and grandmother who are ill, I would have never had it,” the farmer explained.
But Police Prosecutor Shawn Gonsalves told the court that the illicit substance was found in a multi-coloured bag hanging from a tree close to where the defendant was found. He said that when the bag was searched by police ranks, leaves, seeds and stems suspected to be cannabis were discovered. The bag and the defendant were taken into Police custody, where the defendant told ranks, “I was just doing a lil hustle”.
Accordingly, Magistrate Latchman sentenced Laita to three years’ imprisonment, and fined him $30,000.

–just doors from Queenstown home

CHARISSA Rampersaud, Training Manager at Beharry Restaurant Holdings Inc., was on Tuesday night robbed at gunpoint on Anira Street, Queenstown, a few doors from her home.

According to Commander of ‘A’ Division, the 36-year-old had just parked her vehicle and was walking towards her home after work at about 19:15hrs when a white motorcar PSS 8175 drove up alongside her and a man emerged with a gun and grabbed her handbag.

Chapman said that Rampersaud had in her handbag at the time some personal documents, a pair of sunglasses, her Samsung Galaxy cell-phone, cash and an iPod.

Except for a few bruises and scrapes when she fell onto the roadway as the assailant snatched her handbag, the woman was otherwise unharmed.

The Commander confirmed that the matter was reported to the police, and that it is being investigated, as the occupants of the car are persons of interest.

The incident has reportedly left Rampersaud tramautised.

At sometime after 16:00hrs on Wednesday last, hire car operator Walter Sanmoogan of Lot 157 Section ‘B’ Non Pareil, East Coast Demerara departed the Lotto Office on Upper Robb Street, Georgetown in silver-coloured Toyota Premio HC 3247, taking an unidentified young female passenger to a destination in Durban Backlands, Georgetown.
But upon arrival at the destination, he reportedly was confronted by a man bearing a gun, and was left with no choice but to surrender his belongings, allowing himself to be stripped of his possessions and being forced to abandon his car.
Speaking with Guyana Times on Thursday, a heavily traumatised Sanmoogan recalled the shocking incident which has rendered him jobless. He said, “The guy told me to sit, and don’t move. He pat down my pockets, take out my money and cellphone, then he tell me, ‘Come out the car and run up the road’.”
The 60-year-old continued, “When I look back, the young lady and the guy jumped in the car and drive away; and that’s the last I saw of my car.”
In counting his losses, the taxi driver highlighted that his 4-year-old Toyota Premio is worth about $2.5M. Adding to that, he indicated that the hijackers also copped his Samsung Galaxy cellular phone and cash worth approximately $20,000.
Sanmoogan presented a faint description of the hijackers, stating that they were both of African descent, but the man was more of mixed race ancestry. He was, however, unable to properly identify the individuals, noting that his main focus was walking away alive.
“At that moment, all I was thinking about is my life being spared. I complied with whatever the guy say. When he told me to run, I run; because I know a lot of drivers who resist and are no longer here to talk about it. So I complied and I run,” the terrified taxi driver expressed.
Sanmoogan has filed a report at the East La Penitence Police Station, and is awaiting the outcome of investigations. However, given that his car is his only source of income, the man is calling on the public to report any sighting of his vehicle. Reports can be made to the taxi driver on telephone number 616-4816, or by contacting the nearest police station

A SECURITY guard was on Friday robbed of all his valuables by four men on cycles, including one armed with handgun, as he was walking on a street in Nigg Settlement, Corentyne, Berbice.

Reports indicate that the victim was robbed of one haversack, cell phone and cash when the suspects, who were on bicycles approached him from the opposite direction.

He was held at gunpoint and relieved of the articles. The bandits on cycles then made good their escape.

Meanwhile, in Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara (ECD), a husband and wife operating an off-license liquor restaurant and grocery were having a drink with a friend at their business place when three gunmen pounced on them.

Reports indicate that the three armed bandits had initially approached the victims requesting a cigarette when they were told no one had any. The suspects then walked away and later turned back, one pulling a gun from the waist.

The robbers then braced the victims onto the side of the shop and relieved them of over $400,000 in valuables, including cash and cell phones.

Police are investigating these incidents.

TWO ARMED gunmen robbed a fisherman of his motorcycle and
$200,000 cash in the wee hours of Saturday morning while he was in the Albouystown area. The victim was earlier at a popular fish shop. The police are now looking for the bike bearing the number CG 3738 and the brazen bandits.

Reports indicate that the fisherman and his employer were together at the fish shop when the employer gave him some cash to deliver to the ‘ boss’ home, when he was accosted by the gunmen.

“If you move I will shoot you, don’t turn around,” one of the gunmen reportedly told the fisherman, before his pockets were searched and the cash and valuables, the motorcycle keys among them, were taken.
The bandits then escaped on the same motorcycle without firing any shots.

Meanwhile in a separate incident two women were reportedly robbed by two armed bandits in Bella Dam, Pouderoyen, West Bank Demerara (WBD), after making withdrawals from more than one bank on the West Coast Demerara (WCD).

One of the women who resides in Bella Dam, was robbed of $500,000 in cash along with a cell phone and personal documents. The other woman who resides at Providence, East Bank Demerara (EBD) was relieved of her cell phone and $120,000 cash.

Reports indicate that the robbers were on a red and white motorcycle following the car. It was while the vehicle was being parked in a yard that the two bandits entered the premises, pointed a gun at the women and snatched their handbags.
No shots were fired. The police meanwhile are reviewing footage from CCTV devices in the vicinity.

THE Narcotics Police made another major drug bust on Monday when cocaine valued at just over $100 million was found among a shipment of rice at the Kingston Container Terminal (KCT).

According to law-enforcement sources, the rice was destined for a local distributor, whom detectives were trying to locate up to late Monday. It is the third major drug seizure by

detectives from the Narcotics Division in the past six weeks.
In July, 77 kilogrammes of cocaine, valued at $92.8 million, was allegedly seized in a house in Portmore, St Catherine. Earlier this month, the Narcotics Police, with assistance from the military, seized just over 1,700 pounds of ganja, valued at $68 million, during a 10-hour operation in St Mary.

In the latest incident, law-enforcement sources said the police, accompanied by members of the Customs Contraband Enforcement Team, conducted a snap operation at KCT and immediately trained their focus on cargo from specific containers. “Examination of a 40-foot container revealed a total of five leather bags hidden among the shipment,” one source revealed.

According to the source, the bags had a total of 78 parcels, each containing a white powdery substance resembling cocaine. Sources say initial investigation has indicated that the container travelled from Guyana, through Santo Domingo and The Dominican Republic before arriving in Jamaica.

(Jamaica Gleaner)

… break into Mosque, Mandir, Church at Gay Park

BY ANDREW CARMICHAEL

Bandits over the past few weeks have forcefully made their way into three religious buildings at Gay Park, East Bank Berbice, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) and took away valuable pieces of electronic devices, among other items.
The most recent incident occurred between Sunday night and Monday evening, at a Mosque at Gay Park. During that burglary, entry was made through an unsecured door. The perpetrator(s) climbed into the main part of the building which housed most of the valuable items belonging to the Mosque.
Imam of the Mosque, Boyie Mohammed, told Guyana Times that members would normally visit the building during the evening period, and on Monday afternoon when they did, they noticed something amiss.
“Things were not in place as we would have left them the previous night and when we looked for the amplifier that we would use to call the Azam with, it was gone. We started to look around and then we realised that there were other things missing. The prayer mats, speaker boxes which we bought recently at very exorbitant prices for the benefit of the Masjid; even that was gone.”
The amplifier was secured in a grill cage and bolted onto the wall. The bolts were unscrewed and the amplifier taken.
According to the Imam of the Providence/Gay Park Mosque, it is not the first time thieves broke into the building and stole items. Back in 2002, a generator valued at close to $1 million was stolen along with cooking utensils which were used for religious functions along with kitchen wear.
A man who resides a few houses away was arrested and placed before the courts for the crime but the case was subsequently dismissed for want of evidence.
“One time we would have bought material to do work on the Mosque and when we went back the next day all of the material gone. The surprising thing is that nobody knows anything; nobody sees anything. Nobody is willing to cooperate and this also happened at the Mandir that is close by and also with the Christian Church that is there… when you can go into a house of worship and steal, it means you have no fear of this world or fear of what will happen to you,” Muhammad added.
Meanwhile, President of the Gay Park Mosque Feroz Jaffarally is appealing to the person/s who stole from the Mosque to return the items. He related to this publication that all of the items stolen are used by worshipers on a daily basis.

By Andrew Carmichael

The Police in Berbice are hunting a male suspect, who broke and entered the dwelling house of a Corentyne man on Tuesday, before robbing and allegedly raping him.
The 22-year-old victim, who migrated from the United Kingdom to Guyana, told Guyana Times that he was up at 04:30h on Tuesday morning and was having a telephone conversation with a close relative in Europe.
The man had been living alone for the past several months.
He said he heard a strange sound and soon after noticed a window being pushed open. At first, he thought it was ‘something evil’ and was advised by the person on the phone to close the window.
After he did there was a voice demanding that he opens the door and shortly after one of the bedroom windows was smashed.
The traumatised young man said at about 05:00h, he telephoned the Number 51 Village Police Station and told them that someone was attempting to break into his home.
According to the man, a male wearing a short pair of trousers allegedly climbed through the bedroom window and he gave the man all the money he had and the man who used his shirt to form a mask over his face, also picked up his cellular phone and then said that is not what he was there for.
“He told me that he was here to have sex with me,” the young man said.
The man related that a chopper was allegedly held to his neck and he was told that he will be killed if he did not cooperate. The robbery victim said he was then sodomised.
“I had to cooperate because the chopper was at my neck,” he blurted out.
Speaking of the attack, the victim referred to his attacker as having a smell which led him to believe that the man had been living in the bushes.
According to the victim, the man remained in the house until daylight and at almost 07:00h, the Police arrived. He said had the Police responded promptly, they could have prevented the incident from occurring and even if they were not prompt but had responded in a timely manner, the attacker could have been caught.
The Police were called in and they visited the scene and escorted the victim to the Skeldon Public Hospital where he was examined by a doctor, who confirmed that he was indeed sodomised.
According to the man, the attacker as he was about to leave said he was going to return the cellular phone.
Meanwhile, Police Divisional Commander (Assistant Commissioner) Paul Williams said the information he received differed slightly from what was told to this newspaper.
He said the report the Police received was that the intruder entered through a door and not a window. He added that when he first heard of the alleged incident, there were no issue as it related to the Police’s response time.
“What I learnt is that the person who visited the gentleman (victim), they know each other. The person appealed to him to open the door because he wanted to have sex with him and he refused to open the door. The person then decided to force his way into the house.”
The Police Commander is questioning why from the time the person entered the building and was there for something, had the householder not notified the Police, since he claimed the intruder’s presence was unwanted. He said the Police were told that it was after the person entered the house and would have completed the alleged sex act then the Police were called.
“I don’t know what time he would have called, but what I was made to understand is that when they would have received the report was when the act was already committed. Our information is that when the person was there and telling him that he wanted to come in, he never called,” Williams explained. The Police are continuing their investigation.

…two others fled the scene

Police have confirmed that Camp Street prison escapee Uree Varswyck a/k Malcolm Gordon, one of the remaining four on the run, was killed during an armed confrontation on Thursday night, in Linden.

This was during an intelligence-led operation after reports of Varswyck and Mark Royden Durant a/k Royden Williams (Smallie) and another prison escapee, were seen in the Central Amelia’s Ward Area.

Still at large is Williams, Cobena Stephens and Paul Goriah, following the July 9 Camp Street Prison unrest and the subsequent prison break at the Lusignan holding facility.

Details will follow in the September 2, 2017 edition of the Guyana Times.