SIXTY–seven-year-old Arnold Granville, a hotelier of Richmond Village, Essequibo Coast, was beaten and robbed of a gold chain valued at $250,000 when armed bandits invaded his home on Tuesday night. Granville said he was in the sitting room in the second building on his lot, watching the news on television at around 19:15 hrs, when a man came calling for him. He got up, opened the door, and asked the man what he wanted.
According to the businessman, the man said he wanted phone cards to buy, but as Granville approached his verandah to sell the phone card, he noticed in the yard another man who was masked and had a gun. Realising it was the set-up for a robbery, Granville tried to re-enter the house and lock the door, but both men rushed him and a scuffle ensued.
Granville said he fought with the two men for at least ten minutes, but the one with the gun overpowered him by gun-butting him on his head, which caused him to fall to the ground, whereupon the bandits pulled off his gold chain with three rings from his neck, and both fled in the direction of the seawall located aback his property.
He said he immediately dialled 911, and the police responded promptly and began searching for the men, which proved futile. Granville, a trained teacher, said the gun-butt injury on his head bled profusely and soaked the white vest he was wearing. Nevertheless, he would like to thank the doctors at the Suddie Hospital for the way they treated him.
The businessman is pondering his next move, since he is living alone. Granville said his hotel, ‘Tropico’ or ‘Casa Blanca’, has been in business for several years at Richmond Village.