Police response to Goed Fortuin gun attack poor – family

Relatives of the Goed Fortuin, West Demerara woman who was shot in the leg during s robbery on Monday night are insisting that the police were told of the robbery while they were being attacked yet they failed to respond quickly.

Bibi Inshan, sister of Fareeda Inshan told Stabroek News that her father and sister-in-law were in their respective bedrooms when three men, two of whom were armed, forced open the veranda door and barged into the house. She said one of the three men came downstairs looking for the family and she soon realised that there was a fourth accomplice who stayed outside shouting warnings to the family.

“When I see the person coming down the stairs I thought someone was making a joke,” the woman said, but “When I realize is a bandit I slam the step door on him, it hit him and he fell.” Bibi said the man “came calling” when he found them, saying “where all ah dem deh?” She said when he found them “he ordered me to lie on the floor but I refused.” Bibi said after the family was herded into the upper flat of the house a struggle ensued between Fareeda and the bandit. “She hit him with a axe handle, he struggled fired a bullet that hit the floor, she hit him again and then he shoot she in the leg,” Bibi recalled. Still in disbelief she added, “He shoot she and just walk away.”

Bibi said she is angry at the poor police response as besides the adults in the house; three children were also there including her two-year-old grandchild who hid under a bed.

Bibi said the terrified child beckoned her to cover with a sheet and to hide there too and that the child remains traumatised having witnessed the terrifying 20-minute episode. She said the police arrived on the scene five minutes after the robbers fled. As regard Fareeda, relatives said the woman is experiencing intense pain.

According to a police press release on Tuesday the men escaped in a waiting motor vehicle.