… as suspect dies before he could be questioned
POLICE has reached a snag in the Dutch Bottle Café foiled robbery following the death of the suspect who was held after he was reportedly beaten by public-spirited citizens.
Police Crime Chief, Seelall Persaud, said that the suspect died in the lockups before he could reveal further information on the whereabouts of his accomplices in the attempted robbery at Dutch Bottle Café on North Road in the city. Police said a post-mortem performed on the body of the suspect, Kelvin Poonsammy, by pathologist Dr. Nehaul Singh revealed he had died of perforation of the lungs and blunt trauma to the head.
Poonsammy was beaten by persons who had gone to the assistance of the owner and staff of the Dutch Bottle Café on Friday, October 7, as they were being robbed at gunpoint by a group of men that included Poonsammy.
Police reported that at about 10:30 hrs on Sunday, Poonsammy, who was in custody at the Brickdam lockups, was found in an unconscious condition.
He was taken back to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where he succumbed while receiving medical attention.
Poonsammy, who was armed with a shotgun, was one of three perpetrators who are reported to have attempted to rob the owner and three employees of the Dutch Bottle Café.
While being questioned by investigators, Poonsammy had admitted his involvement in several other armed robberies, all committed by a three-man gang, one of whom was armed with a firearm.
There was an armed robbery on September 9, at Goed Fortuin Housing Scheme, West Bank Demerara, where businessman, Bishnu Ramdyal was held up and robbed of $150,000, a quantity of cell phone cards and a cell phone; an armed robbery on October 6, at Ramroop’s Furniture Store, Lombard Street, Georgetown, during which two sales clerks were held at gunpoint and robbed of cash and a cell phone; and the armed robbery committed on October 1, when Raymond ‘Rambo’ Gaskin and two female guests were attacked and robbed of $50,000.00, two cell phones and a quantity of jewellery at his home at Dennis Street, Campbellville. Gaskin was chopped to his head and left arm during the incident.

The owner of the Dutch Bottle Café had bravely confronted one of the three armed bandits who descended on her North Road business place around 20:30hrs Friday, October 7.
The businesswoman, Renata Chuck-A-Sang, is a patient at the Woodlands Hospital, nursing injuries to her face inflicted by the robber.
A kitchen assistant, who wishes to remain anonymous, told the Guyana Chronicle that the place was open for business as usual, and she was in the courtyard awaiting the arrival of 15 mostly foreign persons who had made reservations, when two shifty-looking characters entered the premises. One took a seat and started speaking on his cell-phone while the other ordered a Guinness stout.
Just then, she said, two of the 15 expected guests arrived, so she advised the bartender in the courtyard to expect the others, and was just about to head back upstairs when she happened to glance in the direction of the two suspicious-looking men and spotted a gun in a half-open black bag one of them was carrying. On seeing this, she ran up the café’s stairs as fast as she could and alerted the owner and other employees that they were about to be robbed. In an attempt to prevent the robbery, Chuck-A-Sang ran downstairs and confronted the bandit with the gun, who was by this time was brazenly brandishing the weapon.
As she held on to him and screamed for help at the top of her voice, he began beating her in the face. A few customers ran to her rescue and the employees alerted nearby residents, who also came to the woman’s assistance.
They held onto the gunman, managing to subdue, disarm and detain him, until the police showed up and took him into custody.
The robber’s two accomplices escaped in a gold coloured car which was parked outside the business place. They took with them the owner’s laptop, her cell-phone and some money she had in her possession at the time.
Last year, the business was robbed by a group of six men whose booty was a mere $800.