Auer lei Dos Santos, the 31-year-old Brazilian miner who was robbed early Monday morning, said yesterday that he and his wife were asleep while the bandit searched through their belongings.
He was in stable condition yesterday at Ward A1 in the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) and was able to recount his shocking experience of the early morning robbery.
Dos Santos, through an interpreter, explained that he is a miner at the Marudi Mine which is located along the Kuyuwini River; one of the many tributaries of the Essequibo River.
He and his reputed wife, Maria Da Silva, 38, reside in a camp made of tarpaulin some distance away from the mine’s main dredge camp, he said. At approximately 1:30 am that morning Dos Santos said he recalled being jerked out of his sleep to the sight of a strange man lifting up his mosquito net.
“When I saw him I was scared and instantly started to scream for my wife,” was the English translation of what Dos Santos said. “Like the bandit panic after I began calling for her and he shot me in the right hip and fled the scene directly after with his accomplice.”
The man explained that there were two bandits, one of whom stayed outside the tent to act as sentry and the other who forced his way into the tent to steal whatever valuables he could.
Dos Santos further said that it is with great horror he realized the bandit was in his tent searching through his things as he and his wife slept.
Dos Santos was shot in the front right hip area and the bullet exited. His wife who was asleep next to him was grazed on her rear end by the same bullet.
The woman said that the sound of the gunshot aroused members of the dredge camp who rendered assistance. However, she said by the time they were joined by the other miners the robbers were long gone.
According to Da Silva, her husband bled profusely from the wound and was unconscious when he arrived at the Bartica Regional Hospital some four hours after the attack and he was later taken to the GPH for surgery.
It takes approximately two hours to drive to Bartica from the Marudi Mine, Dos Santos said, and that is where the closest police station is located. According to him, there are no real security measures taken at Marudi to protect employees and miners are little able to protect themselves in such situations.
The Brazilian’s wife added that as soon as Dos Santos is well and they gather enough money they are going back to Brazil.
