-businessman, maid beaten

Three unmasked bandits yesterday escaped with millions in cash and jewellery following a ten-minute rampage at a Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara (ECD) residence during which a businessman and his maid were battered in their faces.

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Back in 2002, the businessman, Bhagwat Persaud called `Ramesh’ and `Sweetie man’ was robbed at gunpoint of over $2M in cash and jewellery days after his brother and sister-in-law were shot to death in their Annandale home.

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When Stabroek News arrived at the home located at Second Street, Mon Repos yesterday afternoon, Persaud, his wife and relatives were sitting outside. The businessman was teary-eyed when approached by this newspaper.

This newspaper understands that it was around noon when the bandits converged on the home and carried out their well-planned attack during which they tumbled up the home and demanded that all the valuables be handed over to them. A senior police source told this newspaper that the men escaped with $1.1M in cash and an undisclosed amount of jewellery.

Up to press time last evening, no suspects had been held.

The man’s wife who declined to provide her name told this newspaper that she was sitting in a hammock when around noon a blue car pulled up in front of the house.

She said that persons would usually come to the house to buy confectionary but the men appeared suspicious to her.

The woman said that she immediately started to holler “Is thief men! is thief men! yall run and hide”! in a bid to alert her husband and the maid who were inside the house.

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However while the woman managed to conceal herself during the ordeal, Persaud and the maid were confronted before they could react.

According to Persaud, three men, two of whom had big weapons rushed through a gate, and commanded that he hand over the cash and jewellery. The gate was not locked as he had been fetching goods into the yard minutes earlier.

He recalled that the men rifled through the house and even went to the upper flat looking for cash and jewellery. According to him they escaped with an undisclosed amount as well as two cellular phones and a digital camera.

The man said that he was gun butted in the face and watched helplessly as his maid was repeatedly kicked and hit in her face.

“I couldn’t even feel my own pain when I was looking at how they were treating her. They kick her in the face and stepped on her face”, the man said.

Stabroek News was informed that neighbours repeatedly sought help by calling the 911 emergency number but were unsuccessful. The police were contacted and arrived within a hour. They conducted investigations and took statements from the occupants of the house.
‘Ah had to hide’
Persaud’s wife recounted how she was brutalized in the 2002 attack and how she had vowed that if she was ever in that position again she would hide.

She said that on that occasion she was beaten mercilessly and she endured a very traumatic experience.  She said that she never had the chance to hide on that occasion.

“As soon as ah see those men ah start holla fuh thief and ah had to hide. Ah never come out till they gone”, the woman stated adding that the men looked so suspicious that she just sensed that something was wrong.

The woman said that for a second time bandits have left them with nothing. “They clean we out… nothing we ain’t left with and now is Christmas time”.

The couple pointed out that nothing ever came out of the 2002 attacks and according to the wife it makes no sense to flee as crime is everywhere. For now, the wife said they just have to be more vigilant.

On May 20, 2002, the six unmasked bandits struck at the couple’s home before swooping on Lambert’s Electronics and Electrical Contracting Services.

Some time before 6 that morning, Persaud came face to face with one of the gunmen as he was leaving his room. After being led downstairs he saw three more bandits armed with different types of weapons. The man had told Stabroek News on that occasion that he was greeted with a series of expletives, and the men escorted him to the bedrooms were everyone was awakened and put to lie face down. The men interrogated him and his wife during the ordeal asking from a box of jewellery that was retrieved from the home of his slain brother.

Eight days earlier Ramdeo and his wife Sita were each shot twice by armed bandits who had confronted them at their Annandale home.

A watchman who was at the premises was hit over the head by one of the men who were each carrying two weapons with taped magazines.

The couple’s children and the watchman were kept downstairs while the couple was taken upstairs by the bandits who demanded cash.