AN  EAST Canje, Berbice husband and wife, awakened by bandits who invaded their home and injured them, were robbed of gold jewellery and money with a total value of $125,000.
The early morning silence was shattered at Lot 49 Adelphi Settlement, at 00:45 h, when Pulmattie Itwaroo called Pamela opened her eyes and saw two armed men in her bedroom.
Her husband, Drepaul Itwaroo, who was asleep in the adjoining room, awoke after hearing the sound of breaking glass, followed by gunshots which made several holes in the zinc roof.
The robbers had gained entry to the upper flat of the two-storey house through broken louvre panes on the eastern and northern windows.
The hooded men, armed with a shotgun and a cutlass, demanded gold and cash while ‘broadsiding’ the scared woman who replied that those things were downstairs.
Her husband said he resisted the cutlass wielding bandit and suffered wounds on two fingers in the process, before the other robber intervened and lashed him across the head with the gun, resulting in a laceration along the hairline.
He said, while his wife was being forced to the lower flat by the gunman, whom she gave a bunch of keys, he was being pushed down the front stairs by the other with whom he wrestled, forcing the other man to call on his criminal partner to shoot the male householder.
The gunman fired a shot in the air after which Itwaroo released his grip on his attacker, took back the keys from him and opened the door leading to the lower flat.
Pulmattie Itwaroo said she handed a gold chain, a band and finger rings valued $120, 000, along with $5,000 from her husband’s wallet to her youthful assailants.
However, seemingly dissatisfied with what they got, the men continued to inflict blows on the couple until the woman fled to the back of their yard and into an adjoining plot, where she alerted neighbours who telephoned the Police.
The Itwaroos sought medical attention before going to Reliance Police Station, also in Canje, to report the attack.
Meanwhile, their neighbours said they were aroused, as well, by the shattering glass and gunshots but were scared to leave their homes.
Instead they telephoned the Police whose ranks rushed to the scene after the bandits had gone but investigations into the incident are continuing.