(Barbados Nation) – An armed bandit last Saturday night left a family $60,000 in the red when he made off with their clients’ gold.

Goldsmiths Simy “Jennifer” Ragnauth and her fiancé Ramnarayan “Richard” Kaimraj were held at gunpoint in the driveway of their St Michael home around 8:20, moments after leaving their business in Bridgetown.

“Everything happened in less than a minute. We had just pulled into the driveway and had just rolled up the windows when this guy with a mask ran up and broke open the [driver’s] window with the butt of his gun,” Kaimraj, 28, told the Daily Nation.  Kaimraj struggled to get his 23-year-old companion out of the white Toyota Corolla by pushing her out of the opened door and scrambled behind her to exit.

He then turned to pick up a 25-pound dumbbell lying in the yard and used it as a missile against the perpetrator who had by this time entered the vehicle by perching halfway through the opening by the driver’s seat, snatching a laptop bag of clients’ gold the couple had brought with them from their store for security.  The Guyanese jeweller told the Daily Nation the dumbbell hit the bandit in his head, leaving him temporarily stunned.

“He took off his mask to see what had happened and during that time I picked up two more dumbbells, ran around the back of the car to throw [them] at him,” Kaimraj said.

The thief then aimed the gun at Kaimraj, making his getaway with the gold, but leaving his mask behind.
“This wasn’t a wild goose chase, it was a well executed plan,” Kaimraj said.

Ragnauth explained that since there was a robbery in Broad Street earlier this year, the couple had started taking home the items, which included jewellery belonging to clients.