Tain family fights off home invasion

The door to the stairs that the bandits broke
The door to the stairs that the bandits broke

A Tain man and his two sons yesterday morning fought off armed bandits who invaded their home.

After the bandits broke into the lower flat of the house, Haimraj Pattiram, 52, and his two sons, ages 27 and 26, armed themselves with cutlasses and began to throw objects down the inside staircase, while the bandits attempted to wrench out the door in order to gain access to the upper flat where the family was located.

Satyawattie Pattiram, 50, of Lot 160 Block 4, New Scheme Tain, Corentyne, yesterday explained that around 3am they heard noises coming from their lower flat.

She stated that the men gained entrance by removing two window panes and they then broke the kitchen door. However, she said, it was as the men were attempting to break the staircase door that her husband and sons put up a fight. “Them start pelt thing on them bandits and after them throw everything them only left with the cutlass in them hand and then them decide to take two chairs and throw it and it fit in the step,” she said.

According to the woman, the police were summoned immediately after the first noise was heard. “Them police call back like ten minutes after and ask for direction and is when them [bandits] hear we giving directions then them get away.”

However, Pattiram said during the ordeal, one bandit told the other “shoot that big man.” She said her son told her that one bandit attempted to fire shots but while cranking his gun he encountered some difficulties. “Like when he cranking he gun it na crank me son say.”

The bandits carted off a 30-penny-weight silver band, a 60-pennyweight silver chain and two sugar machines which were in the lower flat of the house. 

Pattiram disclosed that the police arrived on the scene some fifteen minutes later but by then the bandits had already escaped. She added that ranks revisited her home yesterday and obtained some fingerprints.

An investigation is ongoing.