A woman has been left traumatized after three armed men broke into her Kaneville, East Bank Demerara home early yesterday morning and one attempted to rape her as her daughter lay watching.
The masked bandits subsequently escaped after about an hour in the house with close to half a million dollars in gold jewellery and other articles.
The woman and her daughter were home alone. It is believed that the men took along a ladder to reach a second-storey window which did not have grille work. Up to press time last night no one had been held by the police.
Following yesterday’s incident ranks at the Grove Police Station were severely criticized by residents who said that the police there are always slow to respond to reports of crime, often saying that there is no vehicle to transport them or that no rank is available to deal with the situation.
Several residents yesterday said that their community is a breeding ground for young criminals, many of whom have migrated there from crime hotbeds across the country.
They called for the immediate fulfillment of a promise to build a police outpost in the area following a murder several years ago.
When Stabroek News arrived at the house, just after 10:00am, the woman was standing at her door, her eyes still red and puffy from hours of crying. As she began speaking to this newspaper, she began to sob but managed to talk after a few minutes.
Recounting her terrifying ordeal, the woman said that around 1 am she was fanning her daughter when the bedroom door was opened and a shadow appeared in the hallway.
The woman said that before she could scream, a man was in front of her with a gun and another appeared shortly after. Both men were masked, she said. They told her, “Give we everything ya got.”
She said that the two men then led her downstairs to open the back door for a third masked accomplice who was waiting outside.
Asked how the two men gained entry, she pointed to a window on the southern side of the house near a staircase leading to the lower flat.
The woman said that there was no way to reach that window without a ladder but none was found after the men left.
She recalled that the men brought her back upstairs and her daughter who was now awake was lying on the bed.
“They tell she that if she scream, they gon kill me,” the woman related as she tried to maintain her composure.
She said that the men demanded the two bangles, five gold rings and a pair of earrings she had on while commanding her to hand over the cash that she supposedly had hidden in the house.
The woman recalled telling the robbers that she didn’t have any cash and this angered them. They started pulling out the drawers from a wardrobe in the room and tossing out the clothing in a desperate effort to locate money.
They spent close to an hour in the house.
She said that one of the bandits told her that he wanted to have sex with her. The woman said that she struggled with the man who by then had put on a condom while another was fondling her.
Just before all of this happened, in the presence of the woman’s daughter, the woman said that one of the men tore the nightgown she was wearing into several strips which he used to tie her hands behind her back and gag her mouth. A pillow case was then placed over her head and she was asked if she was still breathing.
However, the conduct of the two apparently wasn’t approved by the third who seemed to be the ring leader.
The woman said that she heard him telling one of them, “When you see I bring you pun a wuk, is not to interfere with nobody. That is a big woman so lef she alone.”
The bandit then abandoned his effort to rape her.
Before they left, the woman said, the men picked up her DVD and video cassette players and her two cell phones and also drank out a full mug of juice which was in the refrigerator. The woman said that when she went downstairs after the men had escaped, the empty mug was on the counter.
The woman said that after the incident she called several neighbours who came over. Contact was also made with the police. A rank from the Grove Police Station called subsequently and a report was given over the phone.
Ranks from that station and fingerprint experts from Georgetown arrived at daybreak to carry out investigations, she said, adding that another statement was given to them. She said that every night she usually makes several security checks to ensure that everything is in order and just before the men struck she had done so.
While Stabroek News was there several residents gathered at the house. One told this newspaper that trucks that came into the area to sell goods have stopped because they are constantly robbed. The woman who did not wish to be named said that recently the workers on a garbage truck in the area were targeted.
Asked what could be a possible reason for the spate of house attacks in the area, a resident said that the countless single parent households are easy targets.
She said that many mothers there occupy homes with just their children and in some cases the men are away for some time working.
