Two suspects were arrested yesterday over the armed robbery that occurred early Friday morning at Apaikwa Landing, in Upper Mazaruni, which left a miner hospitalised with multiple chop wounds about his body.
According to the Commander of Region Seven, Linden Lord, the armed robbery occurred at 1.30 am on Friday, when the two suspects, who were armed with a gun and a cutlass, invaded Tameshwar Sookram’s apartment and demanded money. Sookram, 31, of Lot 118 Last Squatting Area, Enterprise on the East Coast Demerara resisted and the suspect who was armed with a cutlass dealt him several chops about his body. Jose DaSilva, 42, a Brazilian businessman, was also wounded in the attack.
Lord disclosed that the two suspects were arrested yesterday morning and were positively identified. They were due to be transported to Bartica for further investigations. However, he said, money that was stolen was not recovered.
Although police said on Friday that one of Sookram’s legs was severed in the attack, this newspaper was told yesterday by the man’s family that this was not the case.
In an interview with Sunday Stabroek yesterday, Sookram’s mother, Sarijudai, explained that he suffered multiple chop wounds to his limbs.
The woman noted that her son told her that around 2 am on Friday morning, he heard rapping on his apartment door and as soon as he unlocked it, two men forced themselves into his apartment and grabbed him. According to Sookram, one of the men held him down while the other started chopping him about his arms and legs while repeatedly asking for money. He attempted to alert the neighbours by screaming but the man who was holding him down covered his mouth to keep him from making a sound.
However, Sarijudai added, it was too late because the noise alerted the neighbours and DaSilva went running to assist but he too was chopped.
While police have said one of his fingers was severed as a result, Sarijudai told this newspaper that DaSilva was chopped once to his head and once to one his arms. Her son, she noted, was chopped multiple times on his arms and legs. He also told her that around $900,000 was stolen from him.
More than one hour following the attack, she and the rest of her family received the news of what happened. Given the time, there was nothing they could’ve done.
They soon learned Sookram was in a terrible condition and had lost a significant amount of blood, she said. As a result, they chartered a plane so that he could be brought to Georgetown for treatment.
She said the plane returned to Georgetown around 10.30 on Friday morning with her son, DaSilva and a nurse. They were rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital.
Sarijudai later spoke to her son’s doctor, who told her that Sookram needed blood before they could perform any operation on him. His siblings donated their blood so that by Friday night Sookram underwent surgery.
She noted that when Sookram was brought to Georgetown, he was unable to speak. However, when she visited him yesterday, he told her what happened and said that he was in a lot of pain. She revealed that his chop wounds were very deep and he lost a lot of blood as a result. She noted that all his arms and legs were wrapped in bandages and the doctors told her that they will have to wait and see if he can move his arms and legs before they can release him.
Sarijudai revealed that her son is a former employee of Crown Mining Company and he had moved to Region Seven eight years ago. She said that he has a wife and a seven-month-old baby and had been assisting them and her since the pandemic started. “I feel sorry for him because he is a very good boy. Anybody he can help, he would. It’s so sad to see him in that condition but he is in a stable condition right now. He can hardly eat. I took soup for him and he say it can’t go down his throat and his feet is paining him bad. He get plenty cut all over his arms and legs,” she added.
Meanwhile, DaSilva was reportedly transferred from the public hospital to a private facility.
