A GOOD Hope, East Coast Demerara (ECD) family is left traumatised after four armed men attacked them, minutes after arriving home from the Mandir. This is the seventh time that the family has been robbed by bandits.

The bandits pounced on 64-year-old Mahadeo Shiwpal, along with his wife and daughter in front of their lot 36 Good Hope, East Coast Demerara home at about 21:30hrs Sunday night and escaped with millions of dollars in cash, along with the family’s Prado Jeep – PKK 3132.

The jeep was subsequently found abandoned two streets away on the Good Hope Line Top. The elderly businessman and his wife own a stall in the Mon Repos and Plaisance Markets. The wife, Mrs Shiwpal, told the Guyana Chronicle that the family had just returned from the Mandir and she was about to open the gate, when four masked men emerged from a silver Toyota Primo and rushed into the yard. The driver of the Primo was waiting on the gunmen outside.

The distraught woman said that her gold rings and watch were taken away by one of the gunmen, while her 23-year-old daughter and husband were physically assaulted. According to the businesswoman, two of the gunmen then jumped into her husband’s jeep and drove away with it while the other two bandits joined the waiting Premio and escaped.

This is the first time that the family has been robbed at home but they were attacked on six other occasions by bandits at their market outlets. Mrs Shiwpal said that her husband applied for a firearm license but the process has been unsuccessful thus far. The Shiwpals have been operating their business since 1987.