A 21-year-old man is nursing a gunshot wound to his face while his father is also hospitalised at the Anamayah Memorial Hospital with severe injuries after armed bandits stormed their home and assaulted them in the process.

One of the perpetrators was masked while the two others were unmasked. Police have since arrested four persons for the crime. At approximately 18:00hrs on Tuesday, three men, armed with two guns and cutlasses, stormed the business place of D Kumar and Son Grocery, located at Cromarty Village, East Berbice, Corentyne.

From his hospital bed, Kumar, 51, related the traumatic ordeal of how he was beaten as the men demanded cash and jewellery from him. He related that he was in the bottom flat of the house when he was attacked and dragged into the kitchen as the men beat and assaulted him. “They come and drag me into the kitchen, asking for the money and gold. I tell them okay, I gon give you all me have,” Kumar said. He went on to say despite handing over $280,000 in cash from the shop, the men were not satisfied, as they continuously beat and stomped him until he passed out. He also sustained a chop wound to his right leg and had hot milk thrown on him. “One of them tell the next one ‘gimme the cutlass lemme chop he and kill he’,” Kumar recalled. While two of the bandits remained with the father in the shop as they ransacked and continued to search for more cash, the third one turned his attention to the son who was in the kitchen.
Grabbed his plate

Balram Kumar called “Boi”, was having dinner when one of the bandits grabbed his plate of food and tossed it away as he demanded more cash. In the process, the young man was severely beaten and stomped to his back. He was also shot to his face; luckily, the bullet did not penetrate the face, only grazing it. “They beat my son bad; the boots print is still visible on his back,” his mother, Asha Kumar, related.

She explained that when she noticed what was happening, she ran and hid in the backyard, fearing the worse. The son, badly beaten, bruised and covered in blood, ventured to the backyard to look for his mother. “He come looking for me after everything done and them gone, thinking something had happened to me. He could have barely walked and was bleeding from his face, but he come search for me”.

The ordeal lasted for about 35 minutes. The family’s gas stove was also stripped as the trio searched for more cash. On Wednesday, when the Guyana Chronicle visited the family’s home, blood stains were visible in the kitchen where the young man was shot and there was also a trail of blood which led to the backyard. The home and shop were in disarray. Meanwhile, Acting Commander of ‘B’ Division Paul Langevine confirmed persons have been arrested in connection with the robbery as investigations continue.