A SUSPECT is in custody following a burglary at the home of former Region 3 (Essequibo Islands/West Demerara) Chairman Esau Dookie, on Tuesday morning. Police said the detained man was positively identified, as one of two men who were observed acting suspiciously while pretending to cast fishing nets in a trench near Dookie’s house on Sunday night.
The place was broken into while Dookie and his family were asleep inside and his laptop computer and cellular phone were stolen.
Dookie’s wife, Neermala told the Guyana Chronicle that, about 03:30 hrs, she awoke to the incessant barking of the neighbour’s dogs. On looking through a window, she saw a man walking on the road but did not attach any import to it.
The woman said it was when the dogs continued to bark that she bestirred her husband and they found that the premises had been ransacked.
She reported to the police and a mobile patrol responded about 05:00 hrs yesterday morning to take statements.
She told the Guyana Chronicle that the robbers gained entry to the building by removing louvre window panes on the top storey of their residence, from where they got the keys to access the lower flat.
Mrs. Dookie said the burglars, after taking the laptop and cellular phone from upstairs, went downstairs where they searched around, took out a beer from the refrigerator and left it on a bed before leaving.
She said a spray can which was in the storeroom was abandoned in the yard.
It was the second time their Lot 532 Uitvlugt, West Coast Demerara residence had been broken into by burglars but intruders also entered their yard between five and seven times and stole various things, including motor vehicle parts.
Other residents confirmed, to this newspaper, that, on Sunday night, they saw two men who pretended to be throwing nets in a trench and challenged them near where the Dookies live.
Neighbours said the men were not from the area but, when asked what they were doing there, they said they can fish at any time and it was about 23:30 hrs.
They, however, departed after the dogs continued to bark for some time but the presence of the suspicious characters in the village was reported to the police that very night although no one came to investigate.
Commander of Police ‘D’ Division, Senior Superintendent Christopher Griffith assured that the report is being investigated.