By Nafeeza Yahya Sakur

A CHINESE restaurant owner was shot dead on Sunday when armed bandits attacked the No. 57 village, Corentyne family just after they had a special dinner to ring in the Chinese New Year Sunday. Dead is 49-year-old Xiu Yi Yang, a mother of four. She ran the Jio Li Lai Chinese Restaurant.

The incident occurred at around 20:00 hrs. According to the older son, Zhou Xing Su called Vincent Su, the family had closed up the restaurant at around 19:30 hrs and sat down for a family dinner since it was Chinese “Old Year’s Night” for them and they felt very happy having bonded after the meal.
In tears, the 24-year-old recalled that no sooner had his mother left the table to go into the kitchen, with him, his father and his younger brother (13) left sitting, than the bandits staged their attacked.
Vincent Su said he heard his mother screaming from the kitchen and when he rushed to see what was happening he noticed two men with cutlasses demanding money. They had apparently entered the family’s home through a back door that was usually left open. His dad quickly locked him and his brother into the restaurant and rushed into the kitchen to help save their mother.
Vincent Su and his younger brother decided to exit the restaurant, and ran out on the road screaming for help. He said moments later he heard a loud “bang” and rushed back inside where he saw the two men running away through the back door into the back yard and saw his mother on the ground in a pool of blood with a wound to the center of her face. He then rushed back outside again and raised another alarm, but to no avail. The mother was then picked up and taken to the Skeldon hospital where she was pronounced dead on arrival.
When Guyana chronicle visited the scene blood stains were still visible in the yard even though it rained overnight and the family was mourning the loss of their mother who was described as a very loving and caring person.
Vincent Su related that the family is at wits end and are not sure of their next move. They have been operating the business for over 15 years and this is the first time that anything of this nature has happened to them.
“I am very confused, heart broken and scared, we do not feel safe, I just want to pack up and go back to China,” he said.
He expressed disappointment that no one came to their rescue even though they cried out for help. He is also calling on the relevant authorities to implement harsher penalties for bandits to deter others from thinking about committing similar crimes.
“The police need to have a strong method to deal with robbers so they won’t do it again and make people feel unsafe,” Vincent Su stated.
Vincent Su recalled seeing a pickup parked in front of the restaurant when he first went on the road and cried out for help, however the second time he went outside to cry out for help the vehicle was no longer there.
He described the perpetrators as “young men between the ages of 23-30, but could not give any other details. He also related that the two men fled the scene without taking anything.
The entire ordeal lasted approximately 5 minutes, Vincent Su said.
Xiu Yi Yang leaves to mourn her husband and four children, namely Vincent Su and his younger brother and their two sisters who live oversea.
Police in B Division are investigating the murder and a post mortem is expected to be performed on the body today.