Family member attacks bandits with stones
By Neil Marks
AN ALEXANDER Village,
Greater Georgetown resident risked his life in fighting off armed
bandits who attacked his brother's family business in the area
Friday night.
Family business
Debra Persaud said that around 19:30 hrs she was sitting in a
hammock in front of the wholesale business outlet at Third Street
when she saw five strange looking men walking towards
her.
Debra Persaud (wife) said she also received lashes from the cutlass, including one
across her chest.
Cutlass
She said she alerted her husband, Deoraj Jagdeo, telling him
that the men looked like thieves.
Deoraj
Jagdeo
The men
attacked Deoraj, lashing him on the back with a cutlass.
Cutlass
No
sooner had Jagdeo emerged from inside his store than the men
attacked him, lashing him on the back with a cutlass.
Continuous blows followed, Jagdeo told the
Chronicle.
One of the five men stood in front of the
store.
According to eyewitnesses, he had one gun each in his two
hands, while two others were strapped about his
waist.
Jagdeo's brother, Jerry, was just opposite where the robbery
was taking place and he soon saw what was going on.
He
pelted a `good size brick' at the man who was beating
Persaud.
The man with the gun started firing in Jerry's direction and
he constantly dodged the bullets, which shattered the glass on the
right side doors of his car.
Jerry said he continued to hurl stones as he wanted to
prevent the man from going towards a parked mini-bus, which his
niece was in.
Randy Jajdeo (the son)
The men
also beat the businessman's son, Randy, using the butt of the gun to hit him on
the head.
Meantime, the men also beat the businessman's son, Randy,
using the butt of the gun to hit him on the head.
The businessman's employee, Hemchand Manbodh suffered the
same fate.
A
security guard who was in the shop at the time was also beaten, and
his money and jewellery stolen.
According to Persaud, she had put together $416,000 to
deposit in the bank on Friday, but she ran late, having had to take
care of relatives who arrived in the country that
morning.
The bandits took off with that money and other valuables
belonging to the family.
Jagdeo said the stolen cash was what he collected from two
days' sales.
He
imports dry goods for wholesale.
When the men calmly walked away from the area, Jerry said he
was about to enter his car when neighbours told him that his right
foot was bleeding.
Then is when he found out that he had been shot in his right
leg. He was taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation
(GPHC) for treatment and was home yesterday.
Irate residents said they called the Ruimveldt Police Station
when the incident was ongoing, but they were informed that the
station does not take reports over the phone.
"When bullets firing all about, who they (the Police) expect
to go to the station?", one woman angrily asked.
Jagdeo said that after the incident Friday night, two
Policemen showed up at their place and casually talked to
them.
According to Persaud, Randy and Hemchand were told to go and
take a medical at the GPHC, but they soon left as no consideration
was shown to their disposition at the time and they were asked to
sit and wait on a countless number of persons.
Jagdeo said he was told not to open his store until the
Police returned.
However, up until 13:00 hrs yesterday, no Police rank had
visited, he said.
Sunday, August 25, 2002