A couple living at Unity Road, La Grange, West Bank Demerara was on Thursday tied up and beaten by bandits who broke into their house and later escaped with about $1 million in cash, phones and jewellery.
The armed robbery occurred in the wee hours, a stone’s throw away from the La Grange Police Station.
Mahendra Persaud, 69, and his wife, Chandrowattie Sahadeo, 62, retired to bed on Wednesday night after securing their two-storey house that has a rum shop attached.
According to Persaud, at around 02:30 hrs, he heard noise in the living room and woke up his wife; when he ventured to check, he was attacked by three intruders who entered the house through a side window.
The bandits, armed with a cutlass, used a ladder to gain access; they removed the louvers and deactivated the cameras.
They ransacked the house and took G$94,000, US $500, CAN$1,000, six cell phones, jewellery and several documents, including the man’s pension book and identification cards.
“Well the money we had normally is in the shop, we ain’t doing plenty business. I take the bag and I give them, I said that is all we have, we is poor people,” Sahadeo told the News Room on Friday.
The bandits also severely beat the couple as they demanded more valuables and money. They used duct tape and sheets to tie them up.
Sahadeo was punched, choked and gagged while her husband was beaten and now has two missing front teeth; his entire face is swollen.
During a scuffle with the bandits, Persaud grabbed onto the cutlass and sustained injuries to his hands.
“They come and choke me and telling me to shut my effing mouth and using the curse language, and tell me they go shoot me and they have a cutlass.
“They duct-tape my mouth and went beating me up outside here [in the living room] and duct taping he and tying he up and holding me by my hair and cuffing me so me must keep quiet,” a distraught Sahadeo said.
After running out of duct tape, the bandits gathered the valuables and left in a getaway car. Sahadeo used the opportunity to call the police using the landline but no one answered.
The police only showed up at the scene after Persaud went to the police station and made the report.
The couple said the cameras only showed shadows of the intruders before it was switched off. The couple remain in a traumatized state and Persaud remains in pain from his injuries.
