POLICE in ‘B’ Division are looking for three armed suspects who stormed the home and business premises of the Ketwaroo family at Liverpool Village, East Berbice, Corentyne on Wednesday evening.

The men reportedly entered the Ketwaroos’ home at around 18:40hrs and held their son, Rickey, who was having dinner at the time, at gunpoint. After gun-butting the 39-year-old in the face, the men then turned their attention to his mother, Chabadai, 57, demanding that she hand over whatever money she had in the house.

Speaking with the Guyana Chronicle, the still traumatised Mrs. Ketwaroo said she was halfway through preparing dinner when she heard her son scream from the back of the house, and ran out to see what was happening.

“Meh hear he scream, suh meh lef’ de roti pun de stove and run out, t’inking he ah choke,” she said. “But when meh reach, meh see two man deh ah beat he wid wan gun, and ah nex’ wan run up to me and cover meh mouth an’ start choking meh. He tell me nah scream.”

One of the men, who was masked and wore dark clothing, as well as a cap pulled low over his face, Mrs. Ketwaroo said, kept exerting more pressure on her throat as he kept repeating, “Don’t scream; give we all de money!”

According to Mrs. Ketwaroo, the man would eventually take her back into the house, the front of which also serves as a grocery shop, put her to sit on a couch, and start to gun-butt her in the head as he repeated his demand for money.

“Meh manage fuh move he finger from meh mouth and tell he leh meh go; meh got fuh cut off de stove because de roti ah ketch afire, and de place ah guh bun down; dat meh guh give dem the money whuh deh in de shop,” she said.

She recalled the one bandit escorting her, at gunpoint, to the kitchen to turn off the stove, before being joined by the other two as she took him into the shop.

She said she saw her chance to make a run for it when, in their greed, the bandits momentarily forgot her as they
proceeded to ransack the shop looking for money. Her son also seized the opportunity to make for the road through a side gate.

As for the bandits, Mrs. Ketwaroo recalled seeing them making a run, when they realised that the game was up, towards the back of the premises, from whence she’d later learn they’d accessed the property.

After assessing the situation when the ordeal was over, she said that all the men had gotten was a quantity of cigarettes, and only a small quantity of cash, as she had earlier removed most of the money they’d made for the day.
They’d, however, managed to relieve Rickey of a gold chain he was wearing at the time, leaving him nursing a gaping wound in his head, which had to be sutured to help staunch the bleeding.

The police, she learnt, were called by a neighbour who heard her son’s screams and saw the men in action. The bandits, two of whom were armed with handguns, and the other with what appeared to be a cutlass or long knife, all wore dark clothing with masks and caps pulled over their faces.