– suspect released
The suspect in last Sunday’s armed robbery at Kaneville, East Bank Demerara has been released from custody even as the victims notice strange persons lurking in the area and continue to receive threats to their lives.
The man, who was arrested in connection with the robbery that left two people, including a pregnant woman, with gunshot wounds, was released on Friday after he was not identified during an identification parade, a police source said yesterday. He added that investigators are still searching for the perpetrators of the crime.
However, one of the victims told this newspaper, that the suspect who is a resident of Kaneville was not on the ID parade. She said she indicated this to the police officer who insisted that the man was in the line. The woman recalled that she got the shock of her life when she saw the suspect.
Stabroek News was unable to reach senior police officials on this issue as well as to ascertain if efforts were being made to trace the threatening phone calls being made to the family.
A still shaken Michelle Menezes said that she is frustrated with the situation. She said the police patrolled the area near her home for two nights and have never returned.
“I can’t tek this thing no more man. Ah living in fear and I intend to tek this matter high up,” she said explaining that when she tries to contact the police, the number would sometimes ring out. If she does get through, the rank on the other end of the line would just take her report.
This newspaper has since been informed that two strange men have been seen in the area and there are suspicions that they were part of the group that terrorized the Kaneville household.
Menezes yesterday called on the police to follow all leads and investigate all reports so that the men could be captured quickly. The other resident suspected to be linked to the attack and who had verbally abused Menezes’ relatives, has since vanished.
She said her pregnant daughter-in-law who was shot in the leg during the ordeal is improving and can now stand on the injured foot without assistance.
Meanwhile, the woman said that an unidentified man is still calling her home and threatening her family. She reported to this newspaper that on Friday the person called her home and threatening to “cut off” her husband’s neck.
Meanwhile, the two teens who were recently captured in Kaneville shortly after robbing a businesswoman will be placed on ID parades to ascertain if they were involved in other crimes in that area within the last few weeks.
Around 1 am, three bandits, one of whom was armed with a handgun, invaded the East Bank Demerara home while at least one other stood outside as the lookout. During the invasion, they assaulted children and shot Menezes’ son Akeem Ames, 18, and his pregnant girlfriend, Linda King, before escaping with $475,000. During the ordeal, which lasted about ten minutes, the bandits demanded money while threatening to kill the family.
After the men left, the family received five threatening phone calls saying that the bandits will return. One of the calls was received in the presence of a Stabroek News reporter but the caller remained silent. More threats were subsequently made and reports about them were made to the police.
Menezes who works in the interior was apparently the bandits’ target but she managed to escape to neighbours, who assisted in calling the police.
The bandits even went to the nearby home of Menezes’ sister but fled empty-handed when one of them told the others that the police were coming.
