POLICE yesterday disclosed they are following several leads in regard to the early Saturday morning robbery at the home of Deputy Mayor Patricia Chase-Green. A suspect who was arrested is still in police custody, but is not cooperating as it relates to disclosing the identities of his two accomplices, who made good their escape.
That suspect was arrested on the morning of the robbery, and some of the stolen items were also recovered as a result of quick police action in responding to the report shortly after the robbery.
Police have said that at about 02:30 hrs on Saturday, March 10, 2012, Patricia Chase-Green, 60, of Canary Street, East La Penitence, along with her husband and two other relatives, was held at gunpoint by three men, two of whom were armed with firearms and had entered the home by prising a door open.
The perpetrators took away jewellery, three cell phones, a play station, and a television set in their escape.
Quick response by the police and diligent enquiries led to the arrest of a suspect at Tucville, Georgetown, and the recovery of the television set and one of the cell phones.
Chase-Green was loud in praise for the police. She told the Guyana Chronicle that, after the robbery, she had gone to the East La Penitence Police Station to make a report, and ranks there acted very quickly in responding in a timely manner.
Still shocked at the incident, the woman said she was in bed at about 02:30 hrs at her Lot 853 Canary Street, East La Penitence, Georgetown home, when she heard a noise inside the house, got up to enquire, and was chucked by a gunman, who snatched off the gold chain she was wearing and rudely asked her what she was doing before shoving her into her bedroom.
There, she added, the lone gunman was joined by an accomplice who also had a gun, and when her husband Terrence Green, called “Tiger”, woke up and asked what was happening, one of the bandits wounded him with a gun-butt to the face, which required several sutures.
Chase-Green noted that the bandits demanded money and jewels, and began ransacking all three bedrooms in search of valuables, while holding her husband, three others and her at gunpoint.
She stated that the bandits had gained entry to the upper flat of the two-storey house by climbing on some cement blocks at the side of the house to reach the verandah, and had broken the glass section of the wooden door to the house.
Chase-Green added that although the men were not masked, they had on camouflage hoods covering their faces; and while two were inside the house with them, she later learnt that another gunman was standing guard in the yard.
She said that upon entry to the house, they first encountered her nine-year-old grandson, Lamar, who had got out of bed to urinate; and after placing a gun to his head, they asked him who was at home with him, then pushed him into his bedroom.
Chase-Green told the Guyana Chronicle that the bandits took away all the family’s bank cards, identifications cards, money, jewels, and several household items, including a video game, television and remote, a laptop and several bottles of champagne, two of which were later recovered in a nearby alleyway.
Mrs. Chase-Green disclosed that this was the first time she had been robbed since residing in East La Penitence for the past 28 years, and her daughter-in-law was also beaten with a gun during the home invasion early Saturday morning.
She said, “They searched everywhere in the house, even in the refrigerator. They spent about 20 minutes just ransacking the wardrobes and drawers in the bedrooms looking for gold jewellery and money.”
Terrence Chase told the Guyana Chronicle, while displaying injuries to his face, that the bandits took everything, even his wedding band along with two other rings he had hidden in the clothes closet.