A Diamond, East Bank Demerara family was left traumatised after four bandits pounced on them while they were having a celebration on Saturday night, beating and robbing them of valuables and cash.
What was supposed to be a normal evening of enjoying each other’s company during a birth anniversary celebration for the Pasha family quickly turned to terror after four bandits, three armed with guns and one with a cutlass, barged in and held them at gunpoint at their 21st Avenue, Back Half, Diamond home.
The family spoke with Stabroek News yesterday afternoon while they were still in the process of counting their losses and recovering from the trauma. They related that around 9:30 pm, after the birthday party was ending, some members of the family were hanging out in the yard while others were in the house.
At that time, four men, who had their faces covered with shirts, stormed the yard and immediately rushed to one of the women, pulling off her gold chain before holding everyone at gunpoint.
“I saw the guys coming in and I was sitting in front and they come in and start pulling people and pushing people. One of them was holding the cutlass and the others holding their guns asking who the boss is and who in charge,” one of the relatives who witnessed the entire ordeal, recounted.
Another one said that right after snatching the woman’s chain, the men rushed to two of the males, who were standing by the barbecue grill several feet away, and started beating them, before forcing all of the family inside the house and locking the door. Along with the adults, there were four children.
While inside, the bandits took all the jewellery from everyone, searched their pockets, took their phones and even held some of the children at gunpoint as they kept demanding cash and to see the owner of the house.
Eventually, they were able to find Pasha and one of the bandits took him into another room and beat him in his head and about his body until he gave up an undisclosed amount of cash.
Another relative, 43-year-old Rohan Ghanie, who also lives there, was beaten badly in his head. He related to Stabroek News that they had decided to grill some meat and he was at the back cleaning the grill when the attack started.
After he finished cleaning the grill, Ghanie went back outside but instead of meeting his family enjoying themselves, he walked into the attack, which he said he initially thought was a joke.
“The bandits had just come in and I went to the grill because I thought it was a joke. I saw one person first but I know when we does get our get-together, some of the boys does come around from the area and at first I thought it was a joke because I see one of them holding a cutlass,” Ghanie said.
He recounted that he immediately realised the situation was serious when the cutlass-wielding bandit hit one of his relatives to his head and seconds after, another, who he was unaware of, hit him behind his head.
“After I go fuh hold that one, I get a next lash and when I realise what going on, I decide to run in the house. I run in the house and two of them run behind me and just keep lashing me in my head and when I reach at the back room, one was already there with a gun and he point he gun at me and I feel a next lash and I pass out and wake up back in a pool of blood,” Ghanie recounted. He said that the entire ordeal lasted for a little over 10 minutes.
After robbing the family of their valuables and cash, the men took the Digital Video Recorder (DVR) set that was attached to the CCTV cameras, and escaped through the front door.
However, while they were leaving, a taxi, which was hired to bring food for the family, arrived at the same time and the driver was beaten by the bandits before they escaped by running south along the street.
According to neighbours, a getaway car was waiting several streets from the house. The family said that while it feels like a setup, they had not noticed anything strange around the area prior to the attack.
The police arrived 10 minutes after the attack but were unable to apprehend any suspects.
