-family left tottering since the incident
POLICE ARE still to make an arrest in the brazen robbery at gunpoint around twilight Friday of 31-year-old West Demerara businesswoman, Nandranie Deodat, just outside her home, which netted some $7M in gold, diamond and silver jewellery, and $130,000 in cash. Weeping bitterly as she relived the horror of the event, in which she was beaten in the head and face, dragged out of a car and brutally kicked in the abdomen by her assailants, Deodat, a mother of two, said it was around 18:15h when the incident occurred as she was returning home after a hard day at work.
Deodat, who lives with her husband and children at Wallers Delight, a mile or so from Ruimzeight on the West Coast, but plies her trade at the Wales Market, on the West Bank, said she was just getting out of the vehicle she uses every Friday to take her to and from work when she saw two men walking a short distance away coming towards her.
She said that from the way they were looking at her, she became suspicious and afraid, and tried to get back into car, but they beat her to it and in a bullying tone of voice, asked, “Is whey yuh t’ink yuh going?”
Terrified, she said she held on tightly to they bag containing the jewellery and began screaming at the top of her voice and calling out for her husband who was at home at the time with the kids, after spending the day overseeing some construction work being done to their home.
At this, she said, both assailants, one of whom was armed with a handgun, quickly dragged her out of the car and began wrestling with  her so as to get possession of the handbag.
Still sobbing, the young businesswoman said that as the men dragged and threw her to the ground, they began violently kicking her in the abdomen.  She, however, continued screaming for help, which brought her husband rushing to the scene, but by this time, her assailants had already relieved her of whatever cash she had and the bag containing the jewellery.
One man escaped with the bag containing the jewellery and ran towards a white motor car [PHH 3202] which was parked a short distance away, while the one with the gun held the driver of the taxi she used at bay.
On seeing Deodat’s husband approaching, the gunman, realizing that he was unarmed, turned the weapon on him instead, forcing him to withdraw. 
Luckily for all three victims, a passing motorist, on realizing that they were in trouble, discharged a round in the direction of the bandits, which caused them to board the getaway car and beat a hasty retreat.
Deodat’s husband gave chase in a passing hire car he’d flagged down, while some neighbours ventured out to see what assistance they could render, and others called the Vreed-en-Hoop Police.
The getaway car however shook him at the Crane junction, so he decided to head  for the Vreed-en-Hoop Police Station, where he told the police what had transpired and plead with them to send out an ‘all-stations alert’ and set up road blocks, all to no avail. 
Residents who called the Vreed-en-Hoop station from Wallers Delight said the police had given them every assurance that they would be there in about half an hour, they never showed up until around 22:00h.
“How I cried, begging the [Vreed-en-Hoop] police to help we go after the bandits… but it was no use,” the traumatized woman recalled.
And while those at the La Grange and Leonora Police Stations were more cooperative, they were unable to pick up the trail of the bandits.
Deodat’s husband said that in desperation, he showed up at the Brickdam Police Station very early yesterday morning, arriving there around 07:30h and managed to file a report by 09:00h.
And, acting on a tip-off he received, he phoned the Vreed-en-Hoop Police twice yesterday to pass on the information, but is yet to hear from them whether they had followed up on the lead or made any progress in the investigation.