Corentyne rice vendor Latchman ‘Anil’ Pooran is adamant that had the police responded promptly, at least one of the six gunmen who broke into his well-secured home several weeks ago and terrorized his household, would have been caught.
“If they din respond same time within that first half an hour I call, they woulda catch somebody,” an emotional Pooran said as he detailed for the first time the horror he, his wife and their children endured during the wee hours of December 21 last year.
According to his recollection the gunmen spent half an hour trying to gain entry into his home and spent another 20 minutes to half an hour terrorizing his family and tumbling up the contents of his house. During this approximately one-hour period, he said, he contacted the police three times.
Pooran who is confined to bed after having broken one leg and injured the other jumping from his front veranda roughly 10 feet to the ground, and then having scaled a fence topped with barbed wire as well as razor wire to escape, says that when the holiday season is over he will travel to Georgetown to pursue the case.
He told Stabroek News recently that he hasn’t received any update from the police in Berbice, and given his present condition he has been unable to visit the police station to speak with investigators. How-ever he said that some time this week he plans to travel to the city to meet with Ministry of Home Affairs and senior police officials. Pooran expressed a desire to own a licensed firearm, and this is among the matters he plans to take up with officials.
Asked if he has heard about any arrests, he responded in the negative, while saying that it is the job of the police to go after criminals. He said that when he spoke to police a few days ago there were no developments.
“I want them to look for them. We glad if they ketch them. Police gotta do he wuk,” he said while repeating “they [the police] gotta ketch them criminals.”
According to Pooran, his wife and children are still in shock and are particularly overcome with fear at night.
Recalling the incident, he said that he was in bed when his wife heard something knocking. The knocking was the bandits trying to gain entry into the yard of the Lot 47-48 Maida Farm address by breaking a hole in the fence.
A now distraught Pooran told Stabroek News that when he peeped out, he saw when four men climbed through the hole and ran up his back step. He said that he and his wife “start fuh holler up.”
He went on to describe how as the men attempted to gain entry into his home, he called the police from a cell phone. The businessman said that the person at the other end asked, “Where, where” and he responded, “By de rice boy.” He said that the person at the other end of the line still apparently did not understand who it was and kept asking “Who.” He said that after nobody came, he became even more frightened as the men continued in their attempts to enter his home.
He insisted that he called the police twice from his house.
“They been bruckin de house and I get confuse and jump from the house and run from the neighbour,” he related. Pooran was referring to how he jumped from the veranda to escape the gunmen. He said that when he jumped, the men had not yet entered his home.
It was suspected that it was around this time that the bandits used two 4×4 posts to smash open a glass door on the rear veranda.
Over at his neighbour’s house, he recalled being pulled into a kitchen. He said too that the neighbours also called the police.
Pooran said that while at the neighbour’s with the gunman still in his house, he called a “police friend” and some time later someone from a patrol called back the phone he had used. He told this newspaper that it was only after the police arrived that he was brought over to his home, and that his feet were paining. It was later determined that one of them was broken.
Asked how long the men took before they gained entry into the house, he replied half an hour. Asked how much time had passed between when he fled his house to when the police arrived, his response was between 20 minutes to half an hour.
The gunmen managed to escape with approximately $3 million and jewellery worth $1 million. Some time during the break-in, a gunshot was discharged and this is what alerted persons living nearby that something was wrong. Residents have since said that they made numerous calls to the Whim Police Station but no one came.
They said that the first gunshot was heard at 2.30 am. The first sign of the police was at 3.45 am when four ranks turned up to investigate. They left without doing much, only to return about half an hour later with more ranks.
In spite of the residents’ accounts the police are claiming that the reports of a slothful response were a fabrication aimed at achieving political mileage.
Stabroek News has since learnt that the police Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) has launched an investigation into the response time of the ranks.
As it relates to the robbery investigation, the police say that they are still conducting investigations. Contacted yesterday, the divisional commander said, “as we speak there are two persons in police custody assisting with investigations.”
Targeted
Pooran was robbed on three previous occasions and he told this newspaper that he believes he was targeted because it is assumed that given that he is a rice vendor he has money. “I does wuk hard. From 5, 6 in the marning till afternoon,” he told Stabroek News fighting back tears. He said that in spite of the tragedy and horror that has befallen him he still continues the rice business as he has a family to take care of.
He said that since the invasion he has seen the police patrolling the area, the latest time being around 9 pm. He said prior to this police used to be in the area as late as midnight.
Turning to all the security mechanisms he had put in place to ensure he and his family were secure, he said that he has tried everything possible. He had installed surveillance cameras, wooden bars, grilles and padlocks.
“I fix up everything. I can’t do nothing else…they still bruk up de place. Noting else can’t save yuh. Only God can save yuh,” he lamented.
