A suspect has been arrested after the robbery on Thursday evening, when five armed bandits gained entry to a Diamond, East Bank Demerara home and subsequently escaped with over $200,000 after terrorizing and robbing a family.
When Stabroek News visited the home yesterday, Abdul Salim explained that it was around 8.20 pm, when they were closing their grocery shop that two men approached the gate and requested a phone card.
He said his mother-in-law, Bibi Sattaur, went back into the shop to get the phone card and while she was securing the shop, he saw two other men scale the fence at the side of the house while the two who initially posed as customers jumped over the front fence.
They were joined by a fifth man at this time.
He explained that while two of the perpetrators were armed with guns, the others threatened them with cutlasses and noted that his mother-in-law was struck with a cutlass in her head. “She was hollering and crying and they hit her across her head with the cutlass,” one relative said.
Salim stated that he was forced into the house by two of the men who demanded money. “I tell them everything in the shop so the one of them from outside take my wife [Anisa Sattaur] to the shop and she give them; then they bring she and my mother-in-law in the house and run out,” the man recalled. While outside, the woman was relieved of her wedding ring and earrings.
He pointed out that his two small children, aged one and two years old were present throughout the five-minute ordeal but were physically unharmed by the bandits. “I make sure I hold on pon the two of them [the children] all the time and must be that save me from getting couple lashes too,” Salim said, while another relative added that the children were crying uncontrollably.
According to Salim, neighbours were alerted and attempted to render assistance. “One of the neighbours come out and the bandit fire a gunshot before they get away,” he stated.
He said the police have since made one arrest in connection with the robbery and he was called the same evening to identify the suspect.
However, he did not recognize the man but said he would only be familiar with the two that held him captive inside the house.
His wife is expected to visit the police station this afternoon to identify the man since she would have had a better view of the other three who were outside.
The man indicated that he never applied for a gun licence and did not think he would in the near future because of the long process. He said he and his family had been operating the business for about five years and Thursday’s attack was the first they had experienced.
