Guard
killed in
chilling
Corentyne
robbery
By
Shabna
Ullah |
Tuesday,
May 18, 2010
-EO
of Nand
Persaud and
Co. injured
-Heavily
armed gunmen
fired wildly
MASSACRE-
11
dead;
Men,
women
and children
slaughtered
while sleeping
Mahadai_Magoo
Bassant-stabbed-robbed
Cane-cutter-Krishna-shot
14-man
gang creates
terror in
Corentyne
A security
guard was killed
and another man
is nursing
gunshot wounds
at the
Georgetown
Public Hospital
after heavily
armed bandits
opened fire at a
house at
Wellington Park,
Corentyne around
1:40 am
yesterday.
Arjune Gobin,
47, of
Bloomfield,
Corentyne, was
being taken to
the scene of the
shooting in a
Pajero vehicle
when bandits
opened fire,
grazing the back
of his head. He
was rushed to
the Port Mourant
Hospital where
he was
pronounced dead
on arrival.

Rajendra
Persaud, 46,
Chief Executive
Officer of Nand
Persaud &
Co. Ltd., the
first to be shot
at by the
bandits, was
taken to the New
Amsterdam
Hospital. He was
subsequently
transferred to a
city hospital
and is in a
stable
condition.

The bandits,
using
high-powered
rifles and bent
on entering the
house belonging
to Persaud’s
sister, Vasantie
‘Sandra’
Ganesh, 43, and
her husband,
Surendra Ganesh,
50, used
sledgehammers to
pound a hole
into the
southern wall.
They had entered
the yard by
scaling the back
concrete-fence
and escaped
through the same
means. They also
fired shots
wildly,
shattering a few
glass windows
but could not
get through them
because of the
heavy grills.
A few minutes
later the
bandits
successfully
managed to enter
the house
Jenny
Gobin, widow
of the
security guard
and her two
daughters
Ambika and
Anjalie
and switched
on all the
lights. They
then used an
inner stairway
to get to the
bottom flat and
shot at the
padlocks on the
door to let
their
accomplices in.
They then
proceeded to
ransack the
house while
continuing to
riddle the house
with bullets. As
all this was
happening,
Vasantie and two
of her three
children,
Avinash, 20, and
Vinaya, 14, had
secured
themselves in a
room in the
house.

Police said in a
release that
only $5,500 was
taken from the
house.
The money was in
a wallet in
Avinash’s room. Ganesh
had said that
nothing
“substantial’
was taken from
the house.
He said the
bandits removed
a laptop
computer from
the house but
left it on a
table in the
yard.
Persaud, of
the nearby No.
36 Village was
at the time
responding to a
call from his
sister that the
bandits were
shooting and
pounding their
way into her
house.
He got into his
Toyota Mark 11
motorcar, PKK
3482 and
apparently
stopped when he
got to the scene
and the bandits
opened fire on
him.
He tried to
escape and
“ducked after
the bullets
started firing
and mashed the
accelerator hard
but he could not
see where he was
going…,” a
relative said.
Utility
pole

His car ended
up crashing into
a utility pole,
plunging into a
ditch, bouncing
out again and
became hooked on
a plough in
front of a
relative’s
house obliquely
opposite the
scene.
He remained in
the vehicle and
shortly after,
the Pajero
carrying the
security guard
pulled up
alongside it
thinking it had
parked there.
Immediately
after, the
bandits starting
firing rapidly
at the second
vehicle.
The driver of
the Pajero, a
supervisor at
Nand Persaud Co.
Ltd. who rushed
the injured
Gobin to the
hospital
suspected that the man
died on the way.
Avinash told the
media that he
was rudely
awakened to the
loud pounding
and gunshots. He
opened his
bedroom door to
investigate and
saw the bullets
piercing the
ceiling.
He said he got
down on the
ground and
crawled to where
his mother and
sister were and
they hid
together. He
heard the men
shouting loudly
as they
ransacked the
house.
His mother,
still shaken
from the ordeal,
told this
newspaper that
“the
experience was
terrible.” She
said shortly
after calling
her brother she
heard a vehicle blowing.
She then heard
shots firing in
the direction of
the vehicle and
was praying that
it was not him.
She said about
half hour later
even though the
place was quiet
again they still
remained in
hiding.
She only emerged
after her
brother came
with the police
and knocked on
the door and
told her it was
safe. She was
even more
terrified when
she saw her
brother covered
in blood and he
told her he
“got hit.”
Another brother,
Mohindra Persaud
said he had the
other vehicle as
back-up and
thinking that
Rajendra had
parked his car
at the spot, the
supervisor
decided to park
there as well
when the tragedy
occurred.
According to
him, Gobin only
started working
with his company
on May 8.
Vasantie’s
husband, Ganesh,
owner of a gas
station and
packaging
facility who was
expected to
leave the
country at 6 am
yesterday told
the media that
he left home
around 1 pm to
go to the
airport.
The
hole in the
upper right
portion of the
photo was made
by the bandits
He was in the
Rising Sun, West
Berbice area
when he received
a call from his
wife that
bandits were
breaking into
his house. He
immediately
turned back,
abandoning his
trip. When he
got home the
police as well
as relatives,
friends and
neighbours were
already there.
About 300
Sunil Ganesh, a
relative who
lives obliquely
opposite said he
woke up around
1:50 am and
heard the loud
pounding and
“about 300”
gunshots ringing
out and called
the police. The
lawmen arrived
about half hour
later but by
then the bandits
had already
fled.
He said he
was taking
Persaud to the
NA Hospital when
he noticed the
Pajero at the
Port Mourant
Hospital. He
stopped to
investigate what
the vehicle was
doing there and
learnt that
Gobin had died.
Meanwhile at the
home of Gobin, a
tent was already
up and many
persons had
gathered to
sympathize with
the family.
His grieving
wife, Jenny said
her husband was
a canecutter
before starting
to work on her
brother’s fowl
farm. After the
management at
the fowl farm
changed, her
husband sought
the job as a
guard.
She said early
yesterday
morning she
heard a vehicle
blowing but did
not look out.
Shortly after,
the phone rang
and a relative
told her that
her husband was
not well and
that he was in
the vehicle and
was taken to the
hospital.
The relative
took her to the
hospital and
when she got
there she saw
blood and
suspected that
her husband was
dead. She asked
to see him and
the nurses told
her she could
not.
Her fears were
confirmed when
she noticed his
blood-covered
body.
Along with
his wife, the
man has left to
mourn his
children: Amit,
24 who is
married, Amrish,
22, Ambika, 20
and 11-year-old
Anjalie.