Three bandits, armed with a long gun and a
cutlass, attacked a family at Belvedere Reef on the Corentyne
around 3.15 am yesterday and made of with about
$500,000 in cash and antique gold jewellery.
The bandits dealt Knaipa Naidu, 61, several blows
with the butt of the gun. They also used a bed sheet
to tie him up, along with his son Dhankumar Naidu,
34, called "Black Joe" before carting off
their loot.
Naidu said he was sleeping in his hammock in the
yard to enjoy the breeze when he heard
"talking" in Dhankumar's room in the lower
flat of the building and noticed that the light
under the house was off.
He said he got up to investigate and saw the
three unmasked bandits tearing a bed sheet and tying
Dhankumar to the bed. One of the bandits was holding
a torchlight and Naidu said he grabbed his hand with
the light and pointed it to the bandit's face.
He said the bandit then hit him with the gun butt
in his ribs and they then tied his feet to the bed.
He said they were attempting to tie his hands but he
put them voluntarily behind his back.
He said one of the bandits remained in the room
with them while the other two proceeded to attack
his wife, Devi Naidu, 57, who was preparing to cook
on her fireside in the yard for another son who
works at the sugar estate.
The bandits held a cutlass to Devi's neck and
ordered her to go upstairs and hand over the money
and jewellery. "They mek me too take out
everything from the dresser drawers and said people
tell them me gat more gold," she said.
They also stripped
her of her wedding band,
which she said she had never removed since she got
married 38 years ago. While all this was
happening, her two grandsons, aged ten and seven
years old hid under the bed.
The bandits then took Devi back downstairs and
pushed her in the room with Naidu and Dhankumar and
made good their escape through her backyard. (Shabna
Ullah)
