Bandits brutalise, rob Agricola store owner and wife

– children traumatised

A man and his wife were on Saturday viciously beaten by armed bandits in the presence of their 12-year-old daughter during a home invasion and robbery.

Dennis Shibcharran, the 38-year-old proprietor of the grocery store situated below their Lot 41 Brutus Street Agricola home, related that on the night of the incident he and his family had already shut up shop and they were in another apartment downstairs when they heard a noise upstairs.

The still shaken man stated that before he or his wife Angela, 37, had the chance to investigate the noise, about four masked men descended their inside stairs and began beating them with their guns, demanding cash.

Shibcharran said his wife, who was the first to encounter the intruders, was dealt a blow to the head with a gun butt by one of the bandits, bursting her head in the process and which resulted in her losing consciousness. The proprietor also related that as soon as he saw the men with their guns he immediately told them to take all they wanted.

The bandits, however, were not satisfied with just taking the money that was on Shibcharran’s person as well as the day’s savings, as they proceeded to brutally beat the man about his body. Shibcharran related that he was also dealt a shallow cut behind his neck by one of the bandits bearing a knife.

After they had taken all the cash that was available in the downstairs of the house, one of the bandits then took the proprietor upstairs, intent on getting what he could find there.

But Shibcharran ex-plained that it seemed time was against the men, as the bandit turned back and the four hurriedly exited the building.

Neither the storeowner nor his wife saw the direction the bandits went in, as they were all in the house and too shocked to move for a while. Following the incident the police were summoned and arrived shortly, where they took statements from the family.

This newspaper understands that throughout the entire ordeal, the couple’s 12-year-old daughter was forced to lie on the floor next to her father, while he was being brutalized, and their 14-year-old son ran and hid. Shibcharran said that the two children are still traumatized over the entire ordeal.

The storeowner said he is thankful to God that they all were not more seriously injured and believes that it was divine intervention that saved them; “I keep saying Jesus, Jesus all the time”.

This is the fifth time that the family has been robbed, this last time being the first confrontational robbery. Shibcharran explained that on the previous occasions persons would invade their home while the family was out and steal their valuables.

When asked what his next move would be, the proprietor said “I don’t know, right now we can just shut down and do something else; something normal cause like they targeting we”.