-client robbed of $150,000
“I thought this is death”-lawyer
BERBICE lawyer Ramesh Rajkumar was forced to abandon chase after a bandit who had robbed his client pointed a gun in his face. The former Member of Parliament on Thursday was approaching his law office at Lot 8 St Ann Street, New Amsterdam when he observed a crowd and his staff  pointed  to a man who was riding on a bicycle going east at a fast rate of speed.
Remaining behind the wheel of his 4×4 vehicle, he pursued the suspected thief two streets away cornering him alongside a concrete fence as he fell off his bicycle.
The visibly traumatised attorney, recalled, that he attempted to exit the vehicle, and was about to ask the suspect to hand over the bag which was over his right shoulder when, the man rising swiftly off the ground pointed a gun at him.
“He pointed it straight to my face,” said the recently elected President of the Guyana Association of Legal Practitioners, “forcing me to look at his eyes, which were opened wide. I saw confusion and determination. He appeared as though he wanted to shoot. Many things flashed through my mind. I thought this is death. I slid unto the driver’s seat, got under the dashboard, held on to the steering wheel and accelerated, without looking where I was going. A short distance away, I sat up, and looked into my rear view mirror, where I saw him running behind the vehicle with the gun. I subsequently drove out of the street to Central Police Station where I made a report.”
As he recounted the details, Rajkumar said: “I stared death in the face. I could imagine how the victims of these robbers are traumatised. I cannot sleep properly since then. I get flashes of the gun’s barrel all the time.”
Meanwhile, following the report, police ranks, acting on additional information received by another car driver, who had initially followed the bandit, but had to abandon chase after a gun was also pulled at him, went to the densely forested and swampy area behind the buildings which housed the Region Six Democratic Council.
On arrival they were further tipped off, by a craftsman who was on the roof of a nearby building, as to the location of the alleged thief.
However, although the area was cordoned off for approximately three hours while ranks tried to capture the suspect, he eluded the dragnet.
Consequently, an identification card and Guyana Passport in favour of Hardia Geunt, a pair of white footwear, a pair of grey trousers with matching jersey, an umbrella, and a hand bag, were recovered from the area.
Sources told this reporter that the perpetrator may have underwent amphibious training which was used to escape.
Earlier, Hardai Geunt, had a handbag, containing $150,000, in her possession when she visited the lawyer’s office at Lot 8 St Ann Street.
The woman  who had gone to transact business at the law office, was seated on a stool, when a unmasked male pointed a gun , saying, ‘Is you I come for’, before lashing her in the head with the gun, snatching the bag with its contents and  riding off with a bicycle.
The investigations are continuing.