The bandit also took away her husband's photographs and swore that if the husband should appear on television he would come back and kill him.

Pregnant woman (middle) Liloutie Seenauth

Now in her eighth month of pregnancy, Liloutie Seenauth of Lot 7 Coldingen (North), had to be rushed to the Georgetown Hospital by a Police patrol car.

Ms Seenauth, a mother of three, who was alone at home cooking around 15.45 hours yesterday, said her husband was at work, and her children at school when she looked out and saw a strange young man on a bicycle at her gate. She said she cautioned him not to enter her yard.

Rambo knife

However, the defiant young man ignored her and ran into the yard and attempted to get into the house, but she locked the door. She said he broke glass panes and forced his way into the building where he brandished a ‘Rambo’ knife and gun at her, and demanded cash and jewellery.

The bandit robbed her of a pair of gold earrings and proceeded to ransack the house. But the woman began shouting to her neighbours for help.

At that point, the intruder took a pot of rice off the stove and threw the contents at her. He then picked up a four-gallon container of kerosene that was in the house and poured the fuel onto a mattress, which he then set alight. But the housewife hurriedly beat it out with a pillow and ran down her stairs shouting for assistance.

The man pursued her and as she stumbled and fell in the yard, he kicked her in the head and inflicted the wound on her left knee with the Rambo knife.

Seenauth's sister-in-law, who lives at Stratsphey, said that a villager telephoned her, stating that Seenauth was being robbed. The woman said she hurried over, just in time to see the robber leaving the house. He fled the scene on his bicycle.

Police, who were in the vicinity at the time, were alerted and responded promptly. They apprehended the 21-year-old man whose address was given as Friendship on the East Coast Demerara. They found on his person the Rambo knife and a toy gun. He was taken into custody at the Vigilance Police Station.