A PROPERTY owner whose home is nearing completion at Onderneeming, Parfait Harmonie on the West Bank of Demerara, is counting her losses and probably ‘crying blood’, after the shocking discovery that almost all the windows installed in her home had been stolen overnight.

Approximately 18 to 20 windows and two doors are now missing, and the windows were valued at more than $400,000, an informed source said. However, while the windows were all taken, the two doors offering entry and egress to the building remained untouched, and this more than likely is because the doors were sealed off, unlike the windows.
This newspaper was unable to meet with the woman who owns the home but learnt that the windows were installed earlier in the week and last Thursday night they had been unscrupulously removed.
“They finish putting in the windows Thursday and before next morning, all gone,” a resident said.
Unconfirmed reports say that a resident saw a white canter vehicle parked opposite the house on the Thursday night, but was unable to observe any movements since that part of the street does not have street lights.
However, it was also observed that at least four pairs of scaffolds remained erected outside the building, even after the windows had been installed, giving easy access to trespassers.
The owner is said to be in a state of complete shock, but the matter was reported to the police and investigations are ongoing.
Following the theft, one street lamp was installed outside the home of the beleaguered homeowner, but it is not clear who did the installation.
Meanwhile, other residents in the expansive housing scheme have expressed concern about the spate of robberies in their neighbourhood. They claim that home invasions are prevalent as residents go off to work and school during the daytime.
Thieves then loot electrical appliances and whatever they could get their hands on. A neighbour, who lives not far from the house that was stripped of its windows, recalled suffering losses at the hands of bandits about two years ago.
Residents are calling on the authorities to urgently consider installing street lamps in unlit wards in Farfait Harmonie, especially since school children who attend extra lessons have to walk the streets after dark, making their way home.
Meanwhile, elderly residents in the neighbourhood are advising persons building homes or effecting repairs to existing properties that, at no time at all, must they leave ladders or scaffolds erected outside their buildings, or it would facilitate the entry of criminals.
“Even to ladder, don’t ever leave one in your yard. If you don’t have a storehouse, find somewhere in your house to store your ladder,” an elderly uncle advises.

(By Shirley Thomas)