“The way they smelled and the way
they were talking, I know they were on
drugs,” said Vijay Chung, hours after four
heavily-armed bandits had terrorised her
family.
The woman, who lives with her husband
Leslie and three of her four children at Betsy
Ground, East Canje, Berbice, told this
newspaper that the attack began around 03:00
hours yesterday and lasted for about 30
minutes, during which her husband was beaten.
UNSOLVED Crime
- nearest police
station LESS than 10 minutes
The Chungs, who operate a grocery, internet
café and lotto booth, were asleep when they
were aroused by a loud sound coming from the
area of the living room.
Although the house is properly secured, the
bandits managed to remove some grillwork to
gain entry.
Upon checking, Leslie Chung was confronted
by the bandits who held him at gunpoint and
demanded cash and jewellery.
“Our house is fully grilled; it is
amazing how they got in,” Mrs. Chung
reflected.
She said that one of the men entered her
bedroom, where she was with her 10-month-old
baby, and insisted that she hand over cash and
jewellery.
Mrs. Chung said that she told the bandits
that she did not wear jewellery and her
husband was the one who knew where the money
was.
The cash, she said, was money she had put
up for her creditors.
The bandits also awoke the Chungs' two
daughters, aged 12 and five, and questioned
them about their mother's jewellery.
“One of them pulled off my wedding ring
and a diamond ring like if he had put them on
my fingers. I allowed him to because I thought
he was going to bite my fingers off,” the
businesswoman said.
Fully
masked bandits carried big guns
While one of the bandits kept watch over
her in the bedroom, the others who were fully
masked and carried big guns took her
husband downstairs, where they beat him to
hand over the cash and valuables. The men even
put the businessman to lie down and stood on
him to force him to comply.
“When they took him downstairs, I started
praying that they would not kill him. This
thing took so long, I was thinking, ‘Oh my
God, time not finishing'. Even as I'm talking
now I could imagine these guys,” Mrs. Chung
related.
She said the men were clad in long-sleeved
dark apparel that concealed their entire
bodies.
“I looked at one and he told me not to
look. He even threatened to kill me. They were
professional,” she added.
The bandits escaped with a substantial but
undisclosed amount of cash, cellular phone
cards and other valuable items.
Kaieteur News understands that a neighbour,
who saw when the bandits were entering the
Chungs' premises, tried unsuccessfully to
contact the police, who arrived about thirty
minutes after the men had left.
Investigations are in progress.
Thursday
03-01-2007
