The Police in ‘B’ Division are presently investigating an armed robbery which occurred on Monday evening in East Canje, Berbice leaving businesswoman Angela Hussain, 39 years, nursing a gunshot wound to the head.
Hussain is presently in the Intensive Care Unit of the New Amsterdam Hospital where she is undergoing treatment for the injury. From all indications, the bullet grazed the right side of her head, from the temple to the ear. It made a clean exit. She is expected to recover.
Her husband, Faizal was treated for his injuries, but was not hospitalized.
According to reports, five masked gunmen invaded the premises of the Hussain family of Lot 62 Brehaspat Street, No.2 Village, East Canje sometime around 19:00hrs, terrorized the family and carted off a large quantity of jewellery and an undisclosed sum of money.
Stabroek News was informed that the five bandits stormed the residence mere minutes before the family was scheduled to close the shop and retire for the evening. A relative related that after making their presence known, two of the bandits returned outside and stood guard at the gate periodically firing shots into the air while the other three entered the house via the shop at the front and demanded cash and jewellery.
“I was sitting outside of the shop and they run in and yelled nobody move and they kick in the door and come in,” the relative recalled. At this point the bandits gathered all five family members present and herded them into the kitchen where they were grilled on where money and jewellery was stashed. Meanwhile, two of the bandits were busy ransacking the shop. “They took money, all the sales for the day: the money we had in the bag and the bucket, they just take it and push it in their bags,” the relative said. However, not satisfied with the loot, they gun butted Faizal Hussain in the head repeatedly as they demanded the family hand over their jewellery. “One of them took the gun and kept lashing (Faizal) in his head until (Angela) went bring out all the gold,” the relative stated.
Grabbing the jewellery and cash the men made their way out of the yard, but one of them apparently was still dissatisfied with the yield and returned, demanding more money. When Angela denied having more, she was shot in the head at point blank range. “They run out first, and then one of them said this is not all that we get and they come in back and snatch her, and she said she doesn’t have anything more and that’s when he shot her in her head. He was very close to her,” Shabana related.
The bandits made good their escape using a back street and straight to a waiting dark coloured car that had no number plate. The ordeal lasted some 45 minutes during which time neighbours upon hearing the gunshots and realizing what was transpiring tried to summon the police but were reportedly told that there were no patrol vehicles available for the ranks to respond. “When the police was summoned, they took forever to respond and when they eventually came, they just peep and patrol the area a little and took statements,” the relative noted.
The spent shells recovered from the scene appear to have come from hand guns. Investigations are ongoing. The Hussain family, who has been operating a shop at their residence for some two decades now, has been robbed several times, most notably in 2001 and 2005 when they were relieved of large sums of money. This is the first time someone was injured in the process.
The family was visited yesterday by Region Six Chairman David Armogan and former PPP/C Attorney General Anil Nandlall.
