US citizen robbed of cash, valuables during protest action

A US Citizen was robbed of GY$300,000, a cellphone and other items after the car she was travelling in came under attack at West Coast Berbice (WCB).

The incident occurred at Hopetown on Tuesday when protestors burnt two paddy trucks on the public road forcing commuters to use a “backstreet” in the community.

“The Police were directing us and other cars in front of us to go to a back street. When we got to the back street, the cars in front of us seemed to have been stopped by the local guys in the area and the guys were looking into each of the cars to see who were there to target and what they can get,” the woman told the News Room Thursday.

She did not want her identity revealed out of fear that she will be targeted.

The victim further noted: “the men started to hit on the car window and dropped their motorcycle behind the car to stop them from reversing…they came with weapons and they came aggressively…we escape with just our lives.”

She was robbed of US$500, GY$200,000, a tool kit, a cell phone, a pair of sneakers and a bag with documents.

The attackers then allowed them to drive to the public road but there they met another group on men on a truck that was branded with the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) logo; these men offered to retrieve the victim’s documents and they were subsequently returned to her.

The woman and her relatives are now traumatized following the incident.

“I didn’t come into this country to do anything…I did not come here to cause any problem or any situation. Whatever happened politically, that has nothing to do with me because I didn’t come here to be concerned with any of that,” the victim told the News Room.

The woman and her two relatives were escorted out of the area by public-spirited citizens and members of the army and they eventually reached Georgetown by midnight Tuesday.

Several persons have complained of being robbed at roadblocks across the West Coast of Berbice as protests erupted over the brutal murders of 16-year-old Isaiah and 18-year-old Joel Henry.

Two persons have also lost their lives.