…abandon robbery after 20-minute confrontation

By Nafeeza Yahyah
A GROUP of bandits on the Corentyne, early Monday morning, abandoned a robbery in the home of a businessman after they came under heavy gunfire, with one of them being wounded by their intended victim in a 20-minute ordeal that ended when they beat a hasty retreat.

At around 0:45 hours, businessman Gurdiyal Balram called ‘Old Dog’ of Lot 46, Number 59 village, said he was awakened to what sounded like a gunshot, followed by dogs barking then the sounds of walking on his shed. Less than a minute later, he heard another gunshot and the shattering of glass followed by another shot and loud banging. The banging sound Balram heard was that of a group of approximately six men hitting his concrete wall with a sledge hammer while shooting indiscriminately in his house as well as out in the streets.
“I realised they were trying to break the wall so I waited in the hall behind a chair firing a couple of shots in the direction where they were hitting,” Balram related to the Guyana Chronicle. He continued that the men eventually managed to break a section of the wall and entered despite him shooting in their direction. As he exchanged gunfire with the bandits, they kept shouting that they will end his life if he did not stop shooting. “They saying we will kill you…if you nah stop shooting….Because the lights were off, they could not see me or know where to go, so them shooting all the time like about 20 shots inside and then outside you hearing shots too,” the business related.

The businessman continued that as he put up a resistance, two men entered the house through the opening and began to fire shots with what sounded like high-powered weapons. He related that he returned fire and he heard one of the men crying out in pain and he saw them retreating. As the men retreated, they kept firing shots. Eventually, they left and were seen heading north towards the backlands in the street opposite the home.
According to Balram, the men managed to scale his fence and onto a shed then shooting the glass encasement of the back veranda and shattering the lights before breaking an approximately three-foot opening in the concrete wall to gain entry into the building.
During this time, some other men tried to gain entry via a bathroom window but found it grilled and started to shoot at it, hoping to get in. Around the opening in the concrete wall, there were blood stains.

The businessman expressed disappointment in the Skeldon Police Station as he called them from the moment the men started to break the wall but got no response. So he called a friend who drove to the station to find only one rank present who explained that the telephone was not working. The approximately 20-minute ordeal ended when the police patrol with his friend showed up some 30 minutes later. The businessman posited that had the police responded since the initial call, they may have been able to catch the men on the scene.

Second attack

Meanwhile, Balram related that Monday’s was the second attack on his family who are still reeling from the last attack some five years ago. During that incident, his son, then 15, was shot in the back and is still paralysed. He had, prior to that incident, sought an upgrade to his firearm licence to protect his family but was denied. He again applied in 2017 and, to date, is waiting. “If I had a shotgun I could have killed a couple of them. I am a licensed firearm holder for over 15 years now and don’t have any issues regarding same, so I am appealing to the authorities to please grant me the upgrade because I can protect my family better.”

The businessman said despite his son being paralysed and living overseas, he is a patriotic Guyanese and chose to stay and invest in his country but is seeking help to ensure his family’s safety and is appealing to the authorities to kindly heed his plea. At the time of the incident, Balram, his wife, two daughters ages 5 and 24, along with an 11-year-old male relative were at home. The room belonging to the young adult, which is situated next to the bathroom, was riddled with several bullets piercing the wooden wall and being lodged in her room. She related that during the ordeal, the wall kept vibrating as she hid under the bed.

Balram’s wife, Navita Mangal, said had it not been for her husband’s bravery, the outcome could have been different. She said during the ordeal, she held the two younger children in her arms and hid in the front room, trying her best to remain calm and assured them everything will be okay. “I’m still shaking on the inside right now, words cannot explain how I am feeling. This is the first time I ever felt these emotions and I don’t want to again. I had to be brave for the kids because they were crying and trembling but I was so scared, but thank God for my husband who lie on the floor behind the chair and fight them off. I don’t know what would have happened.”

The police removed the CCTV footage from the home and took it to the station for analysis as the investigation continues. The bandits left empty handed following the shootout.