– praise police response

Bandits who robbed a businesswoman while she was closing her supermarket in at La Parfaite Harmonie, West Bank Demerara (WBD) around 19:00 h Tuesday night escaped after neighbours raised an alarm, when they notice one of the gunmen escorting her into the upper flat of her building. The businesswoman and her two staffers were beaten and robbed in the lower flat, which houses the supermarket at Lot 4881 La Parfaite Harmonie. The bandits, who were focused on gaining access into the upper flat, only managed to escape with three phones, wedding rings and the day’s sale.
Proprietor of N&V Mini Mart, who requested anonymity said that around 19:00 h on Tuesday, they started experiencing a fluctuation in the power, which caused the street lamp in front of her house and business to shut down and so they decided to close early.
“One of my staff went upstairs to put some stuff on the landing and when she was coming down back, one of the guys grabbed her and she started to scream,” the businesswoman said.
Upon investigating the reason for the scream, she said an armed man walked towards her and struck her and another staff on their heads before collecting the keys to the supermarket and her home.
The traumatized woman recalled one of the bandits repeating “I want to kill somebody tonight and I’m willing to kill somebody,” as he dragged her to the back of the supermarket.
“They were saying that they wanted to go upstairs and they were hitting us and I had to tell them that I will do what they want and I open the side door for the supermarket but they wanted to go upstairs…” she said.
“While walking up the step, he told me to bend and duck but I refuse because I know my neighbours would look so I walk upright and they were looking.”
Recalling the terror, she said when she reached to her door; she tried to delay the gunman while using the wrong key to open the door. But the irate gunman became impatient, fearful, she eventually opened the door.
“When I walked in, he walked in behind me and the neighbours see and started screaming and he panicked and walk out back and I closed the door from inside and press the alarm,” the businesswoman said.
Immediately after she then ran to the window and began shouting loudly for “thief, thief” several times to raise and alarm but the bandits had already disappeared. She praised the police for their quick response and is asking for patrols to be in the area more often since many persons are victims of robbery.

Divisional and Branch Commanders; ‘D’ Division Stephen Mansell said police visited the scene promptly and began searching the area for the bandits but found nothing. He said police will be on the alert.

Meanwhile, he noted that on Wednesday the marine police also quickly intercepted a boat with an occupant who dropped a bag containing 35kilos of compressed marijuana. He noted that police in the division are doing their best to keep crime under control.