…during second break-in at his home in one week

EIGHTY-YEAR-OLD Joseph Holder was forced to fight and defend himself against a bandit, who was armed with an ice-pick and invaded the retired engineer’s North Ruimveldt home on Thursday morning.
It was the second burglary attack at Holder’s residence for this week. According to the elderly engineer, who is well known for building the Demerara Harbour Bridge, his wife, Ismay, woke him around 03:45 hrs on Thursday morning to alert him that a bandit was climbing through the couple’s bedroom window, situated in the upper flat.
“I got up and engaged the man in a scuffle. I was trying to hold him to keep him until we got some help but he, being younger and muscular, started kicking at me. He pulled out an ice-pick and was jabbing at me so I eventually had to let him loose,” Holder related.
The bandit managed to escape and Holder later discovered that his 40-inch television and two cellular phones were missing.
The burglar had entered the home through a kitchen window in the lower flat and removed the items while the Holders slept upstairs. He then took a ladder from inside the house and used it to gain entry into the couple’s bedroom from outside, as the inner door was closed preventing him from getting upstairs, from inside the house.
Holder believes that it was the same bandit who entered his home on Tuesday, around 03:00hrs. However, the bandit was disrupted as the engineer was awake and had turned on his television. The burglar had then gained entry through another window in the upper flat and made off with two of Holder’s wallets bearing cash and other personal belongings.
A few years ago, there was another break-in at the Holders when the bandit had again escaped with household items.
Both of the recent incidents were reported and the police are continuing their investigation.