Gunmen terrorise another East Coast village
-- Buxton gang victim dies

Retired teacher, Jainarine Singh, also called 'Teach', who was shot in the head and was hospitalised after a gang of armed bandits swept through Annandale on Friday and robbed a supermarket of about $110,000, died early yesterday morning.

Singh, 42, was shot in the head after the gunmen fired indiscriminately during their escape into the violence-prone neighbouring village of Buxton.

And yesterday, a gang of about 10 armed youths from Buxton proceeded to terrorise residents of Vigilance South in broad daylight as they went on a rampage, attacking, beating, robbing and molesting dozens of villagers.

The traumatised residents told the Chronicle that the gunmen barged into their homes. The attackers terrorised and robbed the poor, hapless and defenceless occupants, mainly women and children.

One woman told this newspaper she was molested by a member of the marauding gang.

The visibly traumatised woman said one of the gunmen lifted up her blouse and brassiere and started to hold her exposed breasts.

The 31-year-old housewife said the man also attempted to push his hands into her pants but his bid failed because she was wearing a tight pair at the time.

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"People struggling to mek a living. Nobody in this area ain't get TV or cell phone or CD players anymore. Them come and tek all," Sukhdeo's daughter, Mumtaz lamented.

One resident opined that the criminals operate in a fashion similar to repossession teams from hire-purchase stores.

"Dey come, collect and carry away yu TV and CD player like they were authorised to do that," the resident asserted.

Mumtaz and her family suffered the most during yesterday's ordeal.

BHOOKRAM Singh, left and his daughter-in-law, Veronica Ross.

Sukhdeo said this reign of terror has been ongoing and that every Saturday they've come to expect the brazen criminals to attack and rob them.

One resident feels that only Indo-Guyanese are being victimised and terrorised in this way since, for instance in yesterday's ordeal, all five houses attacked were Indian households while Afro-Guyanese living in neighbouring houses in the street were not robbed.

During the ordeal yesterday, Esardai Khan, 54, of Lot 76 was home alone.

Khan told the Chronicle she was cleaning shrimps when she saw the gunmen entering her neighbour's yard and pointed "long guns" at the household, including her daughter-in-law.

THE bullet hole on the cap Singh was wearing when he was fatally shot on Friday.

Suspecting that the men would also enter her yard, Khan said she slipped out of the kitchen and went to the back of her yard where she hid in the outside toilet (latrine).

From the vantage point of the latrine, she said she saw the gunmen enter her yard shortly after and storm into her house.

She said she watched, trembling, as the men, in a jiffy, marched out of her yard carrying her TV set and a stabiliser.

The men also struck at two houses down the street from the Khans, where a 48-year-old woman, Somarie Patiram, was home alone. The men terrorised her before leaving with her television set.

While all this was going on, Nandranie Pooran, 38, of Lot 96 Third Street, Vigilance South, said she was cooking at the time when she heard the gunmen running up the stairs of her humble home which was barely furnished.

TERROR SCENE: Third Street, Vigilance South, East Coast Demerara. 

(Cullen Bess-Nelson photos)

She said one of the gunmen pointed a gun at her and demanded that she hand over all the jewellery or else he will kill her.

Obviously deeply affected by the horrifying experience, she said she pleaded with the gunmen: "Ow baba, me nah gat nutten, nah kill me, me poor."

She said the men apparently realised that her house had nothing of any real value and they left, joining the others in the street who were moving to neighbouring houses on their terror rampage.

Pooran was home with two of her children, four-year-old Evon and two-year-old Shoba and a neighbour's daughter, Mucho. Her husband returned home from sea less than two hours after the incident.

Residents pointed out a house in Friendship which is located just a stone's throw from where the invasion took place and where they claimed the gang took the stolen TV sets and other items.

They said they watched the men as they calmly walked away with their loot and into the house.

Pooran said that of the three men who attacked her, two were of African descent and one looked like an Indian.

The house diagonally opposite the Poorans (Lot 75) was attacked by gunmen just two Saturdays ago, and yesterday the occupants of the house all fled as the gang again invaded.

Bhookram Singh, 59, who lives at Lot 75, told this newspaper that two weeks ago, gunmen walked into his house, picked up a 19" Sharp TV he had worked hard and saved for and had bought the day before, and casually walked out with it.

"They come in me house and carry way me TV. Then dey ketch me daughter-in-law and propa beat she," Singh recounted.

His daughter-in-law, Veronica Ross, 27, said the men cuffed and slapped her several times in that attack.

In that ordeal, she said the gunmen carried away her cellular phone and a bit of jewellery she had on. Ross said that during yesterday's attack, she took no chances and fled the scene, running away to the next street.