SATTIE Etwaru of Number 43 Village, Corentyne had her home stormed by four gunmen early yesterday, and millions of dollars in cash and jewelry were carted off in the aftermath of that incident.The 37-year-old mother said three of the men gained access to her home by breaking a window in the front room, where the children were sleeping, while the fourth bandit stood guard on the roadway.

She said that after hearing the noise of the breakage, she took her five children, including a six-month-old, into a back room of the house, while the bandits continued to break the window as they fired gunshots presumably in the air.

Once inside the home, the bandits made their way to the back room and started to break down the door, even as her husband, Nakool Manohar, was away on business.

“They come in the room with them guns pointing to us, and demanded we hand over all our cash and jewelry”.

The visibly traumatized woman said she begged the men not to hurt her family, promising she would give them everything of value in the home. Despite her pleas, Etwaru said, one bandit started to beat her in the head.

“I start give them everything, and one of the men tell the other one if she not giving you everything, bring she two daughters – me gon rape them”.
At that moment, she recalled, she handed over everything in her possession.

After hearing the commotion, Etwaru’s mother-in-law, who resides next door, opened her window to enquire what was the matter. The bandits fired shots at her house and commanded her to close the window. The woman, who was unhurt in the process, did not hesitate to comply, quickly seeking refuge on the floor.

Neighbours said they contacted the Number 51 Police Station, and ranks arrived some ten minutes later, but they were unable to capture the perpetrators as they had long made their escape, carting off a quantity of jewelry estimated to be in the region of $1.5M, plus G$1.1M, SRD$13,000 and US$4000 in cash.

The bandits also carried away three cell phones worth $375,000 and a Laptop Computer worth $55,000.
The Police are continuing their investigations. (Nafeeza Yahya)