Four armed, masked bandits staged a brazen attack on Magistrate Geeta Chandan-Persid Edmond at Letter ‘T’, Mahaicony around 3:30 pm yesterday demanding that she hand over her digital camera/camcorder. The police last night said they are investigating the matter.
Magistrate Geeta Chandan-Persid Edmond (right) with her swollen lips and torn shirt, sitting next to her husband, Joel Persid-Edmond while her babysitter, Sarita Hardat holds the couple’s baby, Simran.
The bandits who seemed bent on having the JVC camera gun-butted the magistrate on her head and face, causing her to suffer swellings and tore her shirt. They also robbed her of her gold jewellery including a diamond wedding band, bracelet and necklace, a laptop computer, a dual SIM cellular phone and $15,000 cash.
Also in the car was the magistrate’s baby, Simran and her babysitter, Sarita Hardat who was also relieved of her jewellery. The shaken babysitter was also forced to remove a gold chain the baby was wearing and handed it over to the gunmen.
Though terrified, the women wrestled with the bandits. The magistrate managed to rip off a mask from one of the bandits while Hardat broke a pair of sunglasses another bandit was wearing. The items were handed over to the police at the Mahaicony Police Station.
Magistrate Chandan-Persid Edmond was returning to her Number Six Village, West Berbice home after presiding at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court where she has been assigned since November 2, when she was attacked.
She told this newspaper that while in the vicinity of Novar, Mahaicony she noticed a dark blue AT 212 Toyota Carina motorcar approaching in the opposite direction and the occupants were pointing at her.
The car then made a sudden turn and started to trail her before the men finally manage to overtake her. She said she became suspicious and tried to pass the car but they started to drive in a “zig zag manner.”
As they approached Letter ‘T’, a desolate area, the car came to an abrupt halt, blocking her path. She almost slammed into the back of the car and was forced to stop. She attempted to reverse her vehicle but the men exited the car.
They pointed the guns at her windows, which were up, and demanded that she roll them down and she complied.
The men who said they were “looking for me for a long time” kept asking for the [expletives] camera and also told her to “pass the money.” They also ransacked the vehicle and found the camera as well as the other items.
She observed that the bandits’ vehicle bore two number plates, the front carrying HB 3317 and at the back there was a PKK number.
Chandan-Persid Edmond said she did not wish to comment on why the men may have been looking specifically for the camera. However her husband, attorney-at-law Joel Persid Edmond suggested that it was probably because persons may have seen them using them using the gadget when they stop to take “a lot of footage” while travelling.
Meanwhile, the magistrate had phoned her husband from the time she noticed the suspicious movements by the bandits and he immediately left Berbice in the company of friends to catch up with her.
After the robbery she used another phone she had in the car and called her husband again. The Mahaicony Police Station was informed about the robbery and ranks promised to set up a roadblock. However, Edmond said when they got there they did not see any roadblock and the police said it was farther down the road. He said if indeed there was a barrier it should have been set up at the junction.
Edmond had told his wife to leave the area immediately and met her at Foulis, West Berbice. He had dropped in at the Weldaad Police Station before being sent to the Mahaicony station instead.
In the meantime the magistrate who was complaining of a severe headache, said she was “in no position to go to work” today. She was also concerned for her safety and said she needs protection as their lives could have been lost.
She said her baby travels to Georgetown with her every day.
In July this year, a prisoner had thrown a book at Magistrate Chandan in a Berbice courtroom and concerns were raised about the security of judicial officials.
Fears for the safety of magistrates were also voiced prior to this when in April this year Magistrate Nigel Hawke and his wife were attacked at their home.
Magistrate Hawke was tied, gagged and left on his bathroom floor as a robber armed with an AK-47 reigned terror in his Non Pareil home for approximately 45 minutes.
As the magistrate struggled to free hands tightly bound behind his back, the bandit escorted his wife, attorney-at-law Donelle Hawke, around their home in search of cash, jewellery and other valuables.
boy-boy-boy, what a life now in Guyana, to be seen and to live with?
I am so……afraid in revisiting Guyana, especially election time is at hand.
Anyone, is so vulnerable to be attacked and to be robbed, even be killed.
Guyana, is so a “cow-boy” country now!!
This report is receiving prominence because it’s a magistrate. Sadly, events of this nature are happening all the time and can only be described as routine. To those who see ulterior motives in any criticism of the government for failure to provide security for its citizens as sour grapes, please return and enjoy the comforts and luxuries of a failed state and dictatorship.
With election time at hand, SurMot; the real trouble will start.
Why was this high-ranking member of the judiciary not travelling with protection.
THE MAGISTRATE WAS LEFT TO FIGHT WITH HER BARE HANDS WITH CRIMINALS WITH LOADED GUNS.
Such bravery is beyond the call of duty.
AS FOR THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF SUCH CRIMINALS… THAT HAS GOT TO BE THE BEST JOKE
“Tralalalala. Me so……”
But those who live by the sword gon what folks ?….
“We must protect the rights of the criminals at all cost. No harsh interrogation tactics. We demand proper housing and rehabilitation for our criminals. Do not shoot at them.” (sic)
We cannot eradicate crime if we do not have a system that deters criminal activity.
Fact: Most of the bloggers here depend on criminal activities as an excuse to attack the Government.
Singh and Satish you must understand when you refer to criminals that most crime of this nature has someone with influence behind it. To go on your normal ethnic bashing in this case is just having tunnel vision. The group of people i named above are hiring young black men to carry out these criminal activitites. Roger Khan – a Business man and drug dealer had his gang of young black men. The Clico shooting, now this magistrate. Come Satish and Singh it’s time you call the man behind the gun out as well and not just the man that pull the trigger. But there is a reason why you are not calling the man out. Coming guys be informed.
“Cow boy” you say? Cow boy is what some want it to be if they can’t run things. Some very serious offensives have been committed against government official including police over the past few weeks; property destruction as well
So called activist Mark Benschop protested against the warrant issued by a magistrate to search his premises and his arrest by police. Despite him being out of the lime lite since, I hope he is watching all that cops and magistrates have to undertake in their duties and lives. It would be interesting to hear what Benschop has to say about all the brazen attacks that have occurred lately.
CSingh, it’s not hard when the government itself is caught up in criminal activity a la Kellawan Lall, Steve Merai, Roger Khan, Barry Dataram, Clico, NBS, etc, etc. Yes, we rely on these criminal events to attack the government.
Csingh,
People in Gy know what’s happening and face the harsh realities of gun taunting criminal in their country. Many care not about criminals getting jailed or killed but their main concern is that they can live without having to constantly look over their shoulders. Its only here, online, a few misguided folks seems to think that Guyana is falling off a cliff. Give thanks to SN and the opposition for creating this delusionnal state of what’s taking place back home.
Lets fight for human rights for certain people including the Escapees. Think not of their creators, crimes or victims and that will be the ultimate excuse for bringing down the government.
Hey Reddy we need RK to execute some justice right? The cops ain’t doing the job. Even the hubby couldn’t get there in time. Well we go bun them Reddy just bun them when we catch them. Yaaaawnnnn!
Reddy aka Norman Faria , you are here again trivializing a very serious matter . I hope that you were serious when you met with the Prime Minister of Barbados , yesterday . I hope that you told him about the PPP govt plan to repatriate the illegal guyanese living here . Guyana is a comfort zone for criminals and magistrates should have police protection .
the same old tactics of the pee pee pee. they hatch these things when elections are in the air to scare their supporters into voting for them. look where the crime took place. the usual pee pee pee bloggers rhetoric will read fineman gang is on the move again…ehehehehe.
You accuse me of racism, Pepie and if that is how you feel… it just goes to show how deed the divide is.
1 Your conjecture that Roger Khan/Businessman (codespeak for brown man????) hiring young black men may very well be true, but you have to prove that. ANYONE CAUGHT USING A GUN MUST BE PREPARED TO FACE THE CONSEQUENCES. Softly, Softly and Criminals DOES NOT WORK.
2 Yes indeed it is time you call the man behind the gun out. What would you say if that man was black?
Time to promote rohee hawws
FACT Ceasing: the government creates its own criminality news no one depends on it to criticize the government.
The PPP is a walking news story, riddled with corruption, abuse and scandal at every turn.
Samaroo,, you will run off ( Go Krazy) right here on this site…
Guyana is another Darfur.
@SurMot ,,, sorry it not only Guyana, its all over the world check Brazil, Mexico, US, Trinidad , Jamaica, so where do u live oor visit..
Very sad news. Very sad. What happened to this Magistrate has a correlation between state officials and the ordinary street criminals. Lawlessness and attacks are happening at alarming levels in streets and gov’t offices. The 2007 Auditor General Report exposes the lawlessness by officals and the attacks on the taxpayers with the pillaging of the Treasury and Funds.
In U.S. the culprits would have been before the courts, in jail and publicly descredited. If the gov’t did not act, the media and concerned citizens would have seen to it that they do. In Guyana they are offered protection and immunity.
Transparency International confirmed what everyone know,i.e. the Govt of Guyana is the most corrupt in the region. Jadgeo heads this outfit. There is no pressure on him to correct these bad practices, bring officials before the courts or resigned. The ordinary bandits are taking their cue from officialdom. There is absolutely nothing to deter the blue collar criminal. Henry Greene is not a deterence, Bharat Jagdeo is not a deterence, Clement Rohee is not a deterence, niether is Steve Merai.
Raj: This sounds like a rehash of the negative news for 2009. You could have been a SN reporter. Lawlessness is not alarming. We do not have incidents such as Fort Hood and chrildren killing colleagues in school. Also, some of the violence relates to some political parties annointing banditry by attending their funerals and social activists sprewing racial hatred in the media.
What about all the positive developments in Guyana, such as, LCDS deal and Guyana scoring high in the human rights index. You views are so absurd, bias, one-sided and prejudiced that no one cares about what you say anymore.
So just SCROLL PAST HIS NONSENSE, Dude.
You must not waste your time.
‘Transparency International confirmed what everyone know’.
rajPUT da link dat me kyan read up on it.
Torture is an overworked word now. Ya ppl gat fa invent anada
word foh desribe ‘condoning and pramoting lawlessness’.
bun boy story like get milk dry and nobody tek transparanecy ting seriously so new one start up wid lead story…….
red rover how your canoe doing? you recover from that flying fish that hit yuh in yuh head yet?
Faria, Aye faria you related to Francis?
And all yuh want people to return to help develop Guyana? People who are there to dispense justice are not safe, the incompetent police was notified in time to take action to catch these criminals and nothing was done. The lady magistrate was brave to pull off the mask.
Ex, if everyone continue to run, nothing will change, and we would continue to blogg about the bad things that are happening. We did have change before, only for it to turn around and bite us in the butt. This should not, however, deter us from taking steps again to make a difference. We should do it even if we have to do it at every election.
this is troubling to all magistrates…thank god no one was seriously hurt or injured..material things can be replaced but not life…she should have use better judgement..as soon as she noticed the car following her she shuold have contact the poilce and then her husband or just pull in at some busy area where people are or just divert…seems they will have to provide bodyguard/escorts guards for every magistrates and judges…
The question here is why does this magistrate not have a gun to protect herself from the criminals she has sent to prison, who have access to guns once they are out of prison?
Why did the chief justice transfer this woman to work all the way in GT?
Idont think the administration like this magistrate for some reason she seems to be a target
This woman have problems with the govt, gut feelings this is a setup.she is a stright-up lady not a cronie for the govt.
She took a big chance in snatching off that mask, but I thank God she is alive.
Hope these wimps are caught soon.
Thank God the magistrate, the baby sitter and the child is ok.
Pat,this magistrate had gone to Suriname for a funeral without permission and was suspended she sued and transferred was pay back for fighting this government.
Rule of law in existence.
This was a set up, the men wanted the camera because she have pictures of certain person with a teenager while he was coming from suriname, talk half and left half.
amenra, ow man, talk the other half na………….. this is a juicy story U starting up you know.
LoveGT4Real,
To keep abreast with things you need to tune in to Mark Benschop radio at 8pm Guyana time. He call names and talk the other half. Mark reported this story days before this attack on the magistrate. so we know where all this is coming from.
Illegal pirate radio shows and dissent do not serve the interests of one people, one nation, one destiny.
rahman illegal, or legal it keeping us inform, so you can try deh, we getting our news before it is printed in the news.
The camera was the focus of the attack……so it probably is true….
There will always be a Guyana in one form or the other. Will those of the past recognize the future forms?
No MXQBH. Great observation.
The Guyana I grew up in no longer exists. Most people I know is incapable of accepting this reality and thus, unable to adjust. I can tell by most of the comments left here, that this reality is prevalent amongst the diaspora who does not visit Guyana regularly.
Yo Hackett, you sound like a true patriot my friend, plus your actions here on the blogosphere of counting down the days until return back into this mud flat asylum speak volume for your character as a conscious son of the soil.
However, Guyana is home but it ain’t yours or mine no more… until and unless every Guyanese figure out a way to bury their differences among each other then organize to change the direction of this ’slow burn into oblivion’…
…
Intimidation!Pure and Simple.
Ready the story not intimidation robbery
Ah wonder why the magistrate didn’t give a discription of the criminals, after she bravely demasked him.
It seems like the attackers were on a mission to target this woman; pointing to her while coming from the opposite direction, busting a U-turn then used car to stop her. I don’t think robbery was the motive; “Intimidation” or warning is more like it.
As someone wrote in the letter section sometime ago, criminals in Guyana take really high risks because in their minds the likelihood of them being caught and facing any consequences is really really low.
They know that the Police wouldn’t turn up within 5-10 minutes on the scene…
They know they can do it again with the same outcome…
The security forces have to change the mindset of criminals, this can only be done thru reform as the British was advocating, not just modernization as the Government wanted.
Anyway in Guyana anything goes…
Changing the ambitions of the criminals has to be done from their family level, zaphur.
The British cannot help with that.
They foolice said the set up a roadblock after they got the report, she {Magistrate} drove in the same direction & there was no roadblock, hmmm I smell a ”Phantom, ” what u think Satish ?
I agree with you, Satish. Too many Guyanese are eager to encourage the avoidance of personal responsibility for one’s actions. Every person must be held accountable and responsible for his/her actions. Why must someone or some institution external to a person be held responsible for the deliberate actions performed by that person? That perpetrator exercised his/her free will and judgement to commit the act in question. Therefore, justice demands that the perpetrator be held responsible for the act. In Guyana today, this philosophy of avoidance of personal responsibility and accountability for one’s actions is being encouraged in specific instances because some elements find it a convenient weapon to use against the government.
Changing them have to be done at the family level bob? how you gonna change de ppp?
Tyrone, ya pun de dunny. bhai.
JAMAL ALI EVERY ONE MUST TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR ACTIONS! THAT ALSO APPLIES TO THE GoG. and the president who SLEEPS THROUGH crime….he doan kay a damm