…as three Betsy Ground families are attacked
AN armed bandit was wounded, while his accomplices escaped following a pre-dawn attack yesterday on three families of Betsy Ground East Canje.
During the ordeal, windows were smashed, doors broken down, and two occupants sustained injuries, while others were beaten before losing hundreds of thousand of dollars worth in gold jewellery. A similar incident occurred 24 hours earlier, in Canefield, another East Canje location, where a similar number of  families were robbed of their possessions.
Just before 03:00hrs yesterday, cane harvester Naroton Persaud Jugisteer was awakened by a loud noise. Presuming it was the family cat attacking caged birds, he did not venture out of his bed.
But then he was confronted by persons dressed in black and armed with long guns.
They ordered him to turn the lights on.
‘I trembled as one of the four men pointed a gun to my wife’s head, demanding gold. She gave him a small jewel box. However, on opening the container, he was dissatisfied and requested more, which she eventually gave’.
The 51-year-old said he was taken to the upper flat of the building where his three adult sons were asleep in one of the two bedrooms there.
The bandits beat the boys and took their cell phones.
Meanwhile, Nalini Ramdat who shares her two flat home with her husband Mahendra Jugisteer, [Naroton Jugisteer’s nephew], awoke on hearing their dogs barking.
“The dog was running around the yard. I peered through the window on the lower flat and observed the shadow of a person about three feet away. Suddenly the window was smashed with a gun, and the gunman said, ‘don’t holler’’.
Ramdat said she ran to the upper flat where she was confronted by two bandits who had broken louvre windows and then opened the front door for their third accomplice.
According to the victim, the incident unfolded so quickly that though her husband was awake, he had remained in bed.
The invaders, wearing masks, went into his room and demanded his gold chain as one of them lashed him in his face with a gun.
They took his chain and jewels from Ramdat.
Then she heard glass being smashed next door and realized that her neighbour was being attacked as well.

Meanwhile, Inderjeet Parmanand, along with his mother Nalini, was observing the happenings from their western window, when suddenly he heard his eastern windows being smashed.
He said the bandits had earlier jumped on a shed and was in the process of lashing the wooden bars off, when he armed himself with a cutlass, hid behind a wardrobe, and lashed out as the intruder attempted to enter the building. In the process he was shot in his right hand and abdomen, but not before injuring the invader on his head.
Having sustained the injury, the bandit yelled to his accomplices to go away as it was difficult for them to enter.
Meanwhile, Nalini Parmanand, related that during the ordeal she remained hidden, as her son confronted the armed men.
The police, who responded moments after the third attack, are continuing their investigations.