A group of armed men pounced on a family residing at 28 Houston Housing Scheme on Saturday night, robbing them of $90,000 in jewellery and household items while shooting and wounding one of the occupants of the home.

About 11.30 pm (2330 hrs) on Old Year's Night, Mohandia Budhu, 59, her son, Ravi and her daughter-in-law, among other family members, were stunned when the five men jumped a neighbour's fence and demanded cash and jewellery. All of the men had handguns and some of them wore masks or their jerseys over their faces, the family members related to Stabroek News.

According to Ravi Budhu, he, his mother and other relatives were on the patio when the men entered the yard and stuck them up demanding cash and jewellery. He said that the suspects assaulted his mother with a gun during which time he went to her assistance. He said, too, that one of the men discharged a round which grazed the left side of his head. For this wound he was treated at a city hospital and sent home.

Ravi Budhu

The men then took the occupants inside the house from the patio while continuing to demand cash and jewellery. Ravi Budhu said that the men also held a pillow to his head and threatened to shoot him. At this point another of the gunmen said that they should get going. The family has estimated their losses at about $90,000. The men made off with jewellery, including finger rings, one cell phone and one DVD player.

As a result of the attack, a relative who had been on holiday in Guyana booked an early flight back to Canada after being traumatised.

The police visited the home nearly three hours after the incident and then returned the next day and dusted for fingerprints. According to the Police, the investigations are continuing.

Stabroek News understands that this has been one in a string of robberies in the Houston Housing Scheme of late with another attack coming just a few weeks ago.