SEVENTY-year-old Gangie Sitaram and her brother Chaturam Sitaram, both pensioners, got the scare of their lives on Saturday night when bandits invaded their lot 218 Times Square Street, Grove Squatting Area on the East Bank of Demerara just before midnight.

While being robbed by bandits is nothing new to the siblings who have endured such trauma  over  the past  three years,  what bothers them most is  that although they are pensioners and live alone, the police  have never visited them after a robbery, including the latest incident on Saturday, at least up to 18:30 hours last evening. However, the Grove Police Station is just one street away.
Speaking with the Guyana Chronicle yesterday afternoon, Gangie Sitaram said that they retired to bed at approximately 22:30 hours on the night of the robbery. She recalled that her brother who was sleeping in the room next to hers noticed that a light was beaming in his face.
He told her that on opening his eyes he realised that whoever was shining the light in his face began backing out of the room and he immediately raised an alarm. This would have alerted his sister and another sibling who had visited for the night that an intruder was in the house.
Whoever had invaded their home then hurriedly ran downstairs and exited the house. After waiting until they felt safe, the siblings emerged from their bedrooms and made their way downstairs.
They saw that the back door to the house was open and they ran back upstairs securing themselves and alerting neighbours.
Gangie operates a small shop at her residence, selling snacks, confectionaries and beverages. The persons who invaded the house had gained entry from a bedroom window. They brought with them some drink cases and mounted themselves on two tables to get access to the window on the upper flat where they removed the louver windows and entered the business place.
According to the report, after the men entered the house they sat down and drank vodka before getting down to looting the house.  Gangie said that the men ransacked the rooms, the kitchen and other parts of the house carting off beverages, gold, money and even the transport to her house and land.
The woman said that she is a very sickly person and had two machines which she uses to check her pressure and sugar levels but those were also stolen. The men also carted off the keys to all the locks in the home forcing them to purchase new locks.
The pensioners also related that when they got downstairs they found that a hammock was cut down and the ropes had been discarded on the floor. They feel that had it not been for the light that was beamed in Chaturam’s face, alerting him, they might have been strangled to death by the intruders.
Meanwhile, the siblings have expressed grave concern for their safety while being alarmed at the non-response by the police. One man said that after he got the call about the robbery he attempted to get the police on 911 to no avail.
He said that he dialled the Grove Police Station number and realised he was getting no response and decided to call the Providence Police Station. According to the man who asked not be identified, when he called the Providence Police Station, a constable answered the phone and informed that he was the only person at the station at that time but he was going to pass the information to the Grove Police Station.
When this publication visited the Grove Police Station yesterday afternoon, a police officer indicated that they were not aware that a robbery had occurred one street away from their location.

Phone at station out of order
And when the police officer was told that the victims were trying to make contact with the station but got no answer, the officer picked up the phone and indicated that it was not working for the past month.
Asked if the fault was reported to the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company or his superiors,the police officer responded in the positive.
Last evening this publication was informed that the telephone service atseveral locations along the East Bank Demerara were disrupted due to the on going works on the four-lane highway road expansion.