Armed duo robs man in Newtown, suspected of robbing woman in Sophia

A man was yesterday robbed of his jewellery while standing in front of his relative’s De Abreu Street auto sales business and police have linked the suspects to another robbery which occurred in Sophia a few hours earlier.

According to Avey St John, her cousin, Anil Balkaran, was standing in front of their shop, Car Zone, at 174 De Abreu Street, Newtown, Kitty around 13:00 hrs with her brother when two men entered under the pretence of purchasing an item.

She said her other brother, who was inside the shop, noticed the men acting in an unusual manner and then as they were about to leave, the perpetrators declared “this is a hold up”.

“That’s when they told my other brother and cousin in front that this is a robbery; this is a hold up and they pull out one gun and the other had a gun in his waist and they snatch all my cousin’s gold and his Blackberry phone and then they ran up the road,” she said.

A taxi driver followed briefly behind and observed the men boarding a silver Raum car, licence plate HB 9586, a short distance from the St Winifred’s Secondary School at the corner of Garnett and De Abreu streets.

She added that her brother attempted to pursue the bandits but stopped after a gunshot was fired. “After the shot was fired, he drove round back by Kitty Police Station and alerted the police and then drove back here and by then the police came and took the report,” she stated.

When asked about the estimated loss, she was unable to say but noted that a Blackberry phone, a gold chain and several bands were taken from Balkaran. “It was two very young men… two youths,” she said in describing the men.

The woman said police officers informed her of another robbery in Sophia that was reported with similar modus operandi.

Stabroek News had yesterday morning received a call from a member of the public who indicated that there had been a robbery in Sophia. However, the woman, who was reportedly robbed, subsequently called and said she was not willing to provide the media with any information about the incident.