Elderly Corentyne villagers beaten, robbed by gang in army wear

-shots fired to keep neighbours at bay

Two elderly Corentyne, Berbice residents were on Monday night terrorised and robbed by a gang of armed men, clad in army attire, who fired shots to keep villagers at bay.

The victims, pensioner Lalta Persaud Nageshar, 69, and contractor Jairaj Samaroo, 61, who are neighbours, were both at their No. 71 Village Corentyne homes when the attack occurred.

According to Nageshar, who lives alone, he had just shut up his house at around 6.30 and was on his way to his sister’s house to have dinner, when he spotted the five men “well dressed in army clothing” coming down the street. As a result, he stood on the street to see what was happening, and the men came up to him “an’ scramble me and seh where de [expletive] money and ring [jewellery] deh!”

Nageshar said when he told them he did not have any money, the men proceeded to beat him mercilessly. The man said he had about $30,000 on his person, which the men took while beating him. After ensuring that their first victim had had enough, three of the five men held him captive in the street while the other two proceeded to Samaroo’s house.

Samaroo was lying in his hammock under his house when two men entered his yard. He said one of the men remained at the gate, while the other approached him and began kicking him and asking for money and jewellery. The man said he explained to them that “all meh jewellery deh ah pawn shop,” noting that he would usually pawn his jewellery in order to pay his workers. His attacker, not satisfied with this response, reportedly placed a gun to Samaroo’s head and stated that he would kill him if he did not get the money. Samaroo said he had about $127,000, which he had been keeping to pay his workers, and he handed it over to the bandit. He was then dragged out of his yard and onto the street, where he discovered his already brutalised neighbour.

According Samaroo, as he was being robbed and brutalised, his wife peeked out of the window and upon realising what was happening escaped to their daughter’s house at the back of the property. As she went, she raised an alarm and neighbours began filing out, armed with cutlasses and sticks, but they were no match for the five men, who upon seeing them began shooting in the air.

By this time, Samaroo and Nageshar had been dragged under the latter’s house, where they were both ordered to stay quiet “or we gon kill yuh.” One of the five bandits was then encouraged by his partners in crime to ransack the house, which he did by entering through the veranda. Samaroo recounted that it was during the distraction with the armed neighbours and the bandits that Nageshar managed to escape to the back yard. The escapee related that he was pursued but “them nah get through wid meh.” Upon seeing that his neighbour had escaped, Samaroo said he attempted to rise up but received a kick to the ear from the heavy “police boots” of one of his attackers, while another attempted but failed to cut him on the right ear.

He said the knife barely grazed the ear. After discovering that there was no other valuables left to steal, the men then walked—“nah run”—out the street, and headed in the direction of New Amsterdam.

The police were summoned to the scene and, upon their arrival half an hour later they discovered three live rounds and two spent shells. Sometime yesterday, the ranks returned and dusted the scene for fingerprints. They were praised by both Samaroo and Nageshar for their efforts.

Both men are upset and still shaken over the incident. This is the second time that Samaroo has experienced a robbery. In 2001, his daughter had just returned home from the United States when the family was accosted and robbed by a group of men. Nageshar, a widower, now lives alone since he lost his wife a while ago and his son last year.