— residents say bandits becoming too brazen

By Clifford Stanley
POLICE yesterday arrested the third suspect in the murder at Bath Settlement and Bush Lot, West Coast Berbice, and the man has confessed to both crimes.Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum disclosed that the suspect was arrested on the foreshore of Number 4 Village, West Coast Berbice, which is six miles east of Bath Settlement where the first home invasion and murder took place, by ranks acting on information received.
The man, muddy and dishevelled attracted much curious attention when he was taken to the Fort Wellington Cottage Hospital for medical checkup shortly after his arrest and then placed in the lockups.
He subsequently confessed to the police that he had been involved in both the killing at Bath Settlement and the double murder at Bush Lot.
Three persons are now in custody, two of whom have confessed to both murders and a third one who confessed to the double murders at Bush Lot.
The Crime Chief said the police are going to submit the relevant files for legal advice today prior to formal charges being laid.
He said all the other suspects who had been grilled for questioning in the murders, including the daughter of the woman who died at Bath Settlement, have been released.
Meanwhile, residents said that the recent and unprecedented spike in home invasions is very troubling, and called on the authorities to take urgent action to address the situation.
A  reliable source involved in crime-fighting has said that there have in recent weeks been two types of home invasions on the West Coast of Berbice:  one being burglaries,  where the  perpetrators enter homes when the victims are not present.
The other type involves the really scary ones: the perpetrators who work in crews and carry a gun or other weapons and break down the front door or breaks into the home by some other means and demand, “Where is your cash and jewellery?”
He said that in a recent case it was found that the bandits had entered a home from the roof of the building.

STRATEGIC
“They target a home, usually where there are not many people or where a couple or senior citizen lives alone. The more isolated the home the better. They look for homes in dark areas. They conduct surveillance on the home and then execute their plan being prepared for anything that they will meet inside. These chaps have no fear and in most cases no mercy for their victims.”
He however noted that the community can play a key role in providing intelligence to the regular police or to community police, since in most cases they know most of the perpetrators.
“They know who sells drugs in the village. They know who buys and smokes the drugs; where they congregate and this intelligence can help the police to break up gangs before they become a real menace to the community.”
Last week bandits broke into two homes: one at Bath Settlement, West Coast Berbice and the other at Bush Lot.
They collected their booty, but instead of just going their way, they tortured their victims in the most brutal manner.
One resident at Bath Settlement disclosed that a suspected home invasion crew had been operating in the two villages for quite some time but had only recently turned deadly.
BRAZEN
“They have generally preferred to enter homes when no one is present and then eat and even cook  food, rest in their hammock and rob the premises at their leisure. This has been happening particularly at Bath Settlement for the longest while. It is only now that they have been committing these crazy and murderous acts that people have been taking them seriously,” he said.
Region Five Chairman Vickchand Ramphal has joined with others in expressing concern about the latest trend of violent home invasions on the West Coast of Berbice.
“We are watching these developments very closely; watching how the results achieved by the police and hoping that they can get the perpetrators off the road and have them face justice. The regional administration will give the police the fullest possible support,” he said.

Residents are optimistic that the arrests have broken up a murderous home-invasion crew operating on the West Coast, but they remain afraid.
They strongly feel there is need for more street-lights in their villages.
They are also hoping for a resuscitation of the Community Policing Groups in the villages and for people to be encouraged to pass on information about the “bad eggs” in the community to the police.
But they also want their information to be treated with strict confidentiality, so as to avoid reprisals.
One woman who had suffered a home invasion, but declined to give her name because of safety concerns, said: “What has been happening on the West Coast of Berbice is new. It is not good. Not here. Not anywhere.”