“The way they smelled and the way they were talking, I know
they were on drugs,” said Vijay Chung, hours after four
heavily-armed bandits had terrorised her family.
The woman, who lives with her husband Leslie and three of her
four children at Betsy Ground, East Canje, Berbice, told this
newspaper that the attack began around 03:00 hours yesterday and
lasted for about 30 minutes, during which her husband was beaten.
The Chungs, who operate a grocery, internet café and lotto
booth, were asleep when they were aroused by a loud sound coming
from the area of the living room.
Although the house is properly secured, the bandits managed to
remove some grillwork to gain entry.
Upon checking, Leslie Chung was confronted by the bandits who
held him at gunpoint and demanded cash and jewellery.
“Our house is fully grilled; it is amazing how they got
in,” Mrs. Chung reflected.
She said that one of the men entered her bedroom, where she was
with her 10-month-old baby, and insisted that she hand over cash
and jewellery.
Mrs. Chung said that she told the bandits that she did not wear
jewellery and her husband was the one who knew where the money
was.
The cash, she said, was money she had put up for her creditors.
The bandits also awoke the Chungs' two daughters, aged 12 and
five, and questioned them about their mother's jewellery.
“One of them pulled off my wedding ring and a diamond ring
like if he had put them on my fingers. I allowed him to because I
thought he was going to bite my fingers off,” the businesswoman
said.
While one of the bandits kept watch over her in the bedroom,
the others who were fully masked and carried big guns took her
husband downstairs, where they beat him to hand over the cash and
valuables. The men even put the businessman to lie down and stood
on him to force him to comply.
“When they took him downstairs, I started praying that they
would not kill him. This thing took so long, I was thinking, ‘Oh
my God, time not finishing'. Even as I'm talking now I could
imagine these guys,” Mrs. Chung related.
She said the men were clad in long-sleeved dark apparel that
concealed their entire bodies.
“I looked at one and he told me not to look. He even
threatened to kill me. They were professional,” she added.
The bandits escaped with a substantial but undisclosed amount
of cash, cellular phone cards and other valuable items.
Kaieteur News understands that a neighbour, who saw when the
bandits were entering the Chungs' premises, tried unsuccessfully
to contact the police, who arrived about thirty minutes after the
men had left.
Investigations are in progress.
Thursday
03-01-2007