- points out accomplice at hospital

frustration at the police response

Handcuffed-Sharma

An early morning attack (03:00hours) yesterday by armed bandits has left a young goldsmith nursing wounds to the head after he was viciously pistol-whipped.
His parents, who live next door and who were also targeted, were far more fortunate due to their quick thinking and bravery. They repelled the intended intruders by throwing a garden fork and a quantity of acid at the gunmen.
The latter action is believed to have borne fruit as arrests were later made at the Georgetown Hospital.
Recounting his ordeal, the goldsmith, 34-year-old Navinash Dhanraj, of 8 Pearl, East Bank Demerara, told this newspaper that he was asleep when he heard someone kicking violently at his bedroom door.
“After I hear de kicking I ask is who, and before I coulda come off de bed I see three men with guns standing over me.”
Dhanraj said that one of the men then jumped onto his bed pinning him down and began beating him on the head with a gun.

“He keep asking me whey de money and the gold deh…while he beating and asking me whey de money deh, another man de searching de bedroom.”

Dhanraj said the men then relieved him of two silver chains and a gold chain, which he was wearing at the time. He said they also took away a portable DVD player, about $50,000 in cash and his wallet.

Dhanraj said that the men had gained entry by smashing louvre panes in the kitchen with a brick.
According to Dhanraj, despite the fact that he lay bleeding profusely in his bed, the men still tied him up with a bed sheet before they fled his home. Dhanraj said he managed to quickly free himself and began to call for help from neighbours.
Even as the injured man sought assistance, his parents who live next door were under siege from the same individuals, all of whom were armed with guns and masked.
The man’s father, Ramdoolar Dhanraj, said he was made aware of what was transpiring next door when he heard his son screaming for help. He noted that he decided to peek through a window to see what was going on but was unpleasantly surprised by the sight of two gunmen who were already on the front shed of his house.

The man recalled that after he saw the men he decided to “put up a fight” as he was determined not to lose his earnings to thieves.

“I mek me mind up is either dey kill me or I kill dem…the next thing I know is these men breaking de window,”.
“So I just stand up with a garden fork and I tell dem y’all come. And ah tell me wife bring de bottle ah acid.”
The senior Dhanraj said as soon as one of the bandits attempted to enter his home, he threw the fork in the man’s direction while his wife simultaneously threw the acid at the gunmen in an attempt to ward them off.
“We aint hear no body holla or anything, but they just run and jump off the roof and run away.”
The man recalled that only two years ago they were attacked and robbed by gunmen so he was not going to let history repeat itself.
As a result of the defensive use of the acid, one of the bandits is now a patient of the Burn Care Unit at the Georgetown Public Hospital.
Medical institutions had earlier been alerted by the police that if anyone turned up with suspicious injuries, they (the police) should immediately be notified.

Their intuition was not unfounded as a male resident of ‘B’ Field, Sophia, went to the hospital for treatment and had told the officials there that he had received the burns while “cooking dog food”.
The hospital staffers were not convinced with the man’s explanation and they contacted the police.
The lawmen were also not impressed with the man’s cooking tale.
After being intensely questioned, the man reportedly changed his story, and even went further by telling the police that a man who had accompanied his mother to the hospital to visit him was one of his accomplices.
That man was taken into custody and is assisting with investigations.
Meanwhile, as residents converged at the victims’ homes yesterday, they all expressed frustration at the police response.
There was consensus among those gathered that once the alarm was raised, they had tried desperately to contact the Timehri Police Station but they never got through.
“De phone keep ringing out…we call 911 they put we onto Brickdam and dey tell we dey sending a patrol. One hour pass and nobody aint come,” one resident said.
According to residents they then decided to call Brickdam again and were told some two hours after to contact the Timehri station. “De tell we call back Timehri because de phone didn’t working.
Residents said that the police eventually arrived at the robbery scene some three hours later.
However, through their own efforts, the residents were able to recover several pairs of footwear believed to have been left behind by the gunmen. They also found part of one of the guns.

Friday, May 14, 2010