–Proprietor’s nephew in custody

EMPLOYEES of the Trinidadian-owned firm, R. Maye Hardware at Providence on the East Bank of Demerara are still gripped with fear after three masked men robbed them at gunpoint.

The incident occurred around 21:22h Saturday evening. The businessman’s nephew, Rajendra Maye, is presently in police custody as investigations continue into the matter. He was listed as the main suspect, since he had knowledge about the operations at the premises, and was recently fired by his uncle in relation to another robbery which recently took place at the store.

Relating the horrific ordeal, a salesgirl attached to the company, Arina Rookmin, 26, said that she was in her apartment on Saturday night when she heard a noise outside. Upon peeping out, she saw two men putting on masks. They were already armed with a crowbar, knife and a gun. On seeing this, she immediately went into the washroom in her apartment and locked herself in.

However, the men kicked the door down and gained entry into her apartment, one of many in the store’s compound to house employees.
“After they came in,” she said, “they jump up on my bed and point the gun at the washroom, telling me to open the door or else they will shoot. I began to panic, and then they warned me if I don’t open the door, they will kill me.”

After she opened the bathroom door, the masked men then duct-taped her feet, hands and mouth and putting a knife to her throat, demanded the keys for the upper flat where they presumed the businessman kept his money. After telling them she knows nothing about the keys, they took her upstairs with them, and proceeded to ransack the premises.

On finding what she presumed to be millions of dollars, Rookmin said one of the men then took her back downstairs to her apartment, where she saw the security guard, Orin James, trussed up there. “He was watching us,” Rookmin said. “We were tied up; they were asking who to shoot, then one said, ‘Shoot the girl.’ I begged and started to cry, telling them I have a daughter to live for,” a traumatised Rookmin said. They then relieved her of her Samsung S7 cell-phone, $7,000 in cash and a gold earring.

She said the man who was monitoring her and the security guard left and, in the meantime, she was trying to unwrap her hand. “I hopped my way to the sink where I took a knife and cut my hand and help the security,” she recounted. “By then I ran outside and began to scream where another guard who had just resumed his duty assisted,” she said.

By then the masked men escaped and the police were alerted. The matter was reported to the Providence Police Station and investigations are currently ongoing. This will be the second robbery for the businessman in 2018.