Armed robbers invade Little Diamond home

By  Sara Bharrat

A Little Diamond family awoke to a nightmare in the wee hours of yesterday when four men broke into their house and proceeded on a 30-minute reign of terror.

The owners of SF Sales Services, who only identified themselves as Seema and Junior, and their 15-year-old son were terrorised during the robbery, in which they were bound as the armed quartet ransacked the house looking for valuables.

The attack occurred at about 2.30 am. Two of the intruders, according to Seema, were armed with guns while one had an ice-pick and the other a knife. “I was sleeping and when I came to I feel somebody touch me and when I turn I see this man in a mask and he tell me ‘Shut up!’” Seema recalled. She added: “I was so shocked that I screamed for my husband and as soon as I shout ‘Junior!’ this man who had a gun to me head started to slap me.”

As she was being slapped by the man in her bed, the distressed woman said, another awakened her husband and demanded that he show them where “the money and jewellery deh.” During this time, Junior was beaten to the head and about the body by the attackers.

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“They drag him [Junior] out of the bedroom and tied him up and throw him on corner on the floor… at first I thought was only two of them but when they dragged me in the living room I realised that two more were with my son, who sleeps in the other bedroom next to ours,” Seema said.

Her son was awakened by the men, who immediately bound his hands and feet. Seema, who is pregnant, said she was also forced to lie on her stomach and the men tied her hands as well.

An undisclosed amount of cash, jewellery, shoes, cellular phones and other valuable electronic items were stolen from the Little Diamond family.

“After we were all in the living room under their control, they went about ransacking the house and tumbling for what they could find,” Seema related, “and one of them started to ask me where the money was but another one told him that I would not know because is my husband and son does be in the shop.”

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The woman said her family has been living at the Little Diamond, East Bank Demerara location for almost five years and this is the first time they have been attacked. She also stressed that the attackers were familiar with the area and had to have been observing them for a while before launching the attack. “I am so terrified by this whole thing,” she told Stabroek News yesterday morning, “because when I jump out my sleep and see this man with a gun I done think is a joke they playing on me but is not ‘til he start knocking me that I realize it was really happening. We were getting robbed.”

The couple further expressed outrage that their attackers moved freely about their home and used their facilities. “They walked around our house freely… one of them went in the fridge and took out our water bottle and drank directly from it,” Seema said.

As the men ransacked their home, the family noticed that several louvres from the bottom half of a window in the kitchen were missing. A check after the men escaped revealed that a “scaffold ladder,” which had been stored under a shed in the family’s backyard, was used to gain access to the window.

“Now that I think about it, it is really scary to know that these men had enough time to climb up to our window and remove the glass to climb in our house,” Seema said.

The four masked men, according to the woman, escaped through the same window and through a gate in their backyard and disappeared among some bushes. Shortly after the incident Seema, her husband and son alerted neighbours to their plight. “We couldn’t call the police ourself because the bandits cut our phone line,” Seema stated.

However, police did not show up at the robbery scene until 9 am yesterday. “Our neighbours called the Providence Police Station and they did not come right away,” Seema recalled. “And when they finally came they just look around and said that they would come back to look for fingerprints.”

At one point, just before the bandits escaped, Junior was placed on his knees in front his wife and son and one of the attackers threatened to “finish him”. When Stabroek News visited the man’s home yesterday morning his head was heavily bandaged. “I am just thankful that we are still alive,” Seema said, “I am just happy that they didn’t kill us…we can always work and build again…I am not confident that we will ever get justice for this.”

Meanwhile, another businessman who lives and operates his establishment a short distance away from SF Sales Service said that some time Sunday night intruders forced their way into his shop and stole 18 cooking gas bottles.

Stole 18 cooking gas bottles

The businessman, who identified himself as Roopnarine, also expressed frustration at the fact that his report was not taken seriously by police at the Providence Police Station. “I called them and reported the matter and they didn’t send anyone,” Roopnarine said. “This is a crime and it should be taken seriously…if my home was not heavily grilled inside and out they would’ve probably broken in as well.”