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Gunmen
terrorise couple in Buxton driver shot in escape bid
A 38-year-old truck
driver escaped with his life on Thursday when four bandits held him and his wife
at gunpoint during a botched robbery at Buxton Sideline Dam.
Chandika Persaud called ‘Wrecker’ is
presently nursing two gunshot wounds to his shoulder, which he sustained while
running away from the bandits.
His wife, Sahodra Persaud, a teacher of the
Annandale north nursery school, was rescued when the Community Policing Group in
the area discharged several rounds, forcing the bandits to flee. The attack
occurred at about 20:20 hours just as Persaud and his wife were returning
home.
The truck driver, who spoke to this newspaper from his hospital bed,
recalled that he and his wife were talking to a neighbour when two gunmen walked
up to them and discharged a round into the air. The gunmen then led them further
into the village of Buxton where the beating began.
“I lef’ early de morning
fuh go and look wuk up de East Bank. When I de coming back de police stop me and
detain me at Providence. Dey keep me deh fuh de whole day till me wife come and
bail me. “We lef de station about seven o’clock and is coming home we coming
home when de bandits attack we,” Persaud told Kaieteur News.
He said he
parked his truck in front of his yard and was emerging when his neighbour called
out to him.
“De neighbour tell me dat four men de waiting outside me yard and
he ask me if I see dem. I didn’t see de men, but while talking to he, me see two
people coming towards me.”
Persaud said that one of the men came up to him
and discharged a round saying, ‘you is de man I want.’
One of the bandits
held unto his hand while another held his wife and dragged them both out of the
neighbour’s yard.
Some relatives, who lived a few houses away, said they saw
when Persaud and his wife came home.
They also recalled seeing four men
approach them, but thought that it was members of the Community Policing Group.
“Den we hear gunshot and we see dem men dragging `Wrecker’ and he wife across a
bridge; we ain’t know wha happen after,” a relative told this newspaper.
The
truck driver said that while they were being dragged, one of the bandits
demanded cash and jewellery.
“He ask me whey de gun, money and jewellery deh.
When I tell he dat me ain’t gat none, he seh, ‘wait you gone know just now’. He
hit me with de gun butt den he carry we over de bridge and brace me pon a post,”
Persaud said. His wife was kicked to the ground while the two bandits, who were
by now joined by two more accomplices, all carrying guns, threatened to kill
them.
“I beg dem. I tell dem ah gat two pickney fuh look after. Me wife all
beg dem. One ah dem with a long gun fire two times, but de gun didn’t go off, or
else I would’a dead,” the truck driver stated.
Persaud was then placed to lie
on the ground and one of the bandits began chopping him about his body.
“Like
he go fuh juk me in me neck, but I block,” he added. Then a rare opportunity
presented itself.
Persaud said that all the time he was contemplating how to
get away from the men, but the fact that his wife would be left behind was at
the back of his mind.
But he threw caution to the wind when the men who were
having problems with their guns turned and looked away.The precious seconds
enabled Persaud to get up and run, attracting several gunshots from the
bandits.
“Dey fire two shots behind me, one catch me pon me shoulder. Me wife
de still lie down deh with dem,” Persaud told Kaieteur News.
With Persaud
gone, the bandits turned their attention to his wife.
“Dey ask me again fuh
de money and I didn’t answer. Den one ah dem seh shoot me, but another one seh
no,” Sahodra Persaud recalled.
By this time, her husband had alerted several
residents, including members of the Community Policing Group who responded by
firing several shots into the air.
“When dem bandits hear de shots, dey run
away. Dem ain’t get fuh tek nothing from we,” the truck driver’s wife said. The
police were summoned and arrived about 10 minutes after the attack. By then,
however, the bandits had disappeared.
Persaud, covered with blood, was rushed
to the Georgetown Hospital, where he was admitted.
The police are keeping
a close watch on the area in the hope of quelling any attempt by bandits to
re-start the incidence of armed robberies, which had plagued the East Coast of
Demerara up to early this year.
