HAROLD Narine who had to seek medical attention at the
Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) on Sunday night
after he was beaten when bandits attacked his
family,
returned home yesterday.
Narine received 10
stitches for wounds on the head after he was beaten by one of
two bandits who forced their way into his Lot 442 Pineapple
Street, East Ruimveldt, Georgetown home and business place
around 19:00 h.
Recalling the horror of the 10-minute rampage
yesterday, he said that the two men, who were both armed with
handguns, went up to the gate and requested a case of
beer.
He said that as he opened the gate, the gunmen forced
their way into the yard.
The 29-year-old man said that he began fighting with
one of them, while the other one held his wife Azeema
Narine at gunpoint and forced her into the
storeroom.
The wife said she was forced to hand over the day's
sales of $16,000 from the shop they operate.
However, the man was not satisfied and with the gun
pointed at her head, he forced her into the house and demanded
more.
"I keep telling him that I ain't got anymore, but he
still kept chucking me", Mrs Narine said.
The woman said that she was taken into her bedroom,
where she handed over $100,000 and a quantity of jewellery
which belonged to her three children.
"I
was so nervous, I can't even remember opening the drawers",
she related.
The man then forced her to open the wardrobe, which he
ransacked and then fled on foot.
The other man who was grappling with her husband also
fled.
Harold Narine said that as they continued to fight, he
hit the man with a pan, and the bandit retaliated by hitting
him in the head repeatedly with a beer bottle.
His wife tearfully said that she had worked hard to buy
jewellery for her children, only to have it all taken away
from her in a couple of minutes.
"I worked hard to give my children what they had, I
don't know if I have the strength to start
over."
During the ordeal, the three children aged nine, eight
and three years old, hid in a chicken at the back of the
yard.
The bandits, wearing caps pulled down in their faces,
fled the yard on foot, but according to neighbours they left
in a waiting car which was parked around the
corner.
Narine said some of the money would have been used to
pay her bills today.
She has been operating the business for the past 10
years and was robbed before in 2001.
Bandits beat shop owner during East
Ruimveldt robbery
• children hide in fowl
pen
Thirty-four-year-old Harold Narine had to seek
medical attention at the Georgetown Public Hospital after two
gun toting bandits beat him and robbed his family of close to
a million dollars in cash and jewelry at around 21:00 hours
last night.
Narine was gun butted in his head when the bandits attacked
the East Ruimveldt shop he and his wife, Azeema, operate on
Pineapple Street, East Ruimveldt.
The bandits managed to escape, although a passing Impact
patrol responded immediately to the call for help by residents
who witnessed the robbery.
Up to late last night Narine was still being treated at the
hospital for three gaping wounds he sustained while trying to
protect his wife and three children from the attack.
According to Azeema Narine, the two gunmen entered her shop
and requested to purchase a case of beer. She said that at the
time she was attending to two other customers.
“I was selling and they come in and called for a case of
beer. It came up to $3,600 which they paid in full,” the woman
told this newspaper.
However, as her husband was about to open the door to
deliver the item, one of the bandits snatched him and forced
him back into the shop.
According to the woman, the men acted suspiciously shortly
before they committed the act.
“I became suspicious when I saw one of them whisper into
the other one ears.”
She said one of the bandits began beating her husband,
while the other held unto her and demanded money and
jewelry.
“De other one pull me and ask, ‘Whey de money deh?'. I gave
them $8,000 that I had sold for the day, but he kept demanding
more,” the woman recalled.
She said the bandit took her into the house where she
handed over some more cash along with the family jewelry.
“I don't know if I gon able wuk and mek back all dem
things. I thought he would go after I give he de money, but he
keep demanding more,” Azeema said.
All the while, the bandit who had held up her husband kept
beating him.
“De one wha holding me husband telling he, ‘hustle you
sc..t',” the businesswoman told this newspaper.
The woman said her three children who were watching
television, hid in a chicken pen, after they realized that
their parents were being attacked.
“Look, I had to clean she off,” Azeema said, referring to
her baby daughter.
When the men were done they fled the scene, but not before
discharging two rounds from their firearm.
Residents who were nearby heard the gunshots and informed a
passing Impact patrol. However, by the time the patrol
responded, the bandits had already made good their escape.
The businesswoman said that the
entire episode lasted for about five minutes.
She said this was the second time that the business had
been robbed. But according to her, last night's events were
the more traumatizing of the two robberies.
When this newspaper visited the business, it was closed for
the night.
Investigations are continuing.