A West Coast Berbice shop owner was shot in the eye and his
wife severely beaten by bandits who got away with over $1M in
cash and jewellery.
Rafeek 'Esau' Hassain, 39, the proprietor of Esau's General
Store at Lot 80 Bath New Housing Scheme, Plantation Hope is
now a patient at the Georgetown Public Hospital with bullet
wounds to his eye and neck. His condition is listed as
critical but stable.
His wife Chandanie Hassain, 36, was treated for
her head wounds at the Fort Wellington Hospital and sent
home.
She told Stabroek News that the incident happened at 8:15
pm on Friday night just as Esau was about to bring his truck
into the yard. Four armed bandits ambushed him. He attempted
to get into the house but they shot him before he could make
it. He was hit in the left eye and also on the left side of
his neck. Hassain said before he was shot she heard her
husband call out but by the time she got to the door the men
were already there. "One rushed the door and pulled me by the
shirt and tell me to give he the money." They began to pull
out drawers and took the store's earnings amounting to
$400,000. They then demanded more money from her, hitting her
several times in the head with a gun butt.
The bandits then split up, with two of them taking her son
Ameer, 14, upstairs and putting him to sit in a corner. They
then proceeded to ransack the rooms on the upper flat. The
couple's 11 year-old daughter was awakened by the commotion
and the bandits ordered her to put her head under the
pillow.
