N/A family brutalised, robbed

Oct 13, 2010 News

– Mother of nine-day-old also beaten

A New Amsterdam family was beaten and robbed of jewellery and cash, including US and Canadian currencies, by three armed bandits who invaded their Lot 21 St Magdalene Street home around 04:00 hrs yesterday, just as they were preparing to go to the Port Mourant Market to purchase fish which they sell daily.
The thieves who were armed with a gun and two cutlasses wore masks.

Seeram called ‘Moti’ and his wife Chitrani Toolaram called ‘Luck’ were beaten by the bandits.

Recounting the ordeal, 52-year-old Seeram called ‘Moti’, who has been in the fish vending business for about 10 years, and who lives at the two-storey residence with his wife Chitrani Toolaram called ‘Luck’, their two children and grandchildren, said that it was around 04:00 hrs and he had just exited the house and gone downstairs to go to purchase fish.
He was accosted by the three men who held him up and demanded ‘the money’. Seeram said that he told them he had no money, because he was taking stocks on credit. “I tell dem I ain’t got no money, I does trust. But dat get dem vex.”
He said the bandits immediately started to beat him and he was gun-butted and lashed across his back with a cutlass.
He started to scream for his wife to shut the door, but, he said the two with the cutlasses hurried up the steps and barged into the house, while the one with the gun remained to guard him. He recounted that about 15 minutes later, the two emerged with a bag, and the trio made good their escape.
Seeram’s wife, Chitrani Toolaram, who was in severe pain when this newspaper visited, said that she lost all her gold jewellery and money in the ordeal. The 48-year-old woman said that she has been in the fish business since the age of 14. The shaken businesswoman recalled that she opened the door after she saw her husband fall, and before she could have realized what was happening two of the bandits were already up the stairs and into the house.
As they did to her husband, the men demanded money and jewellery, and when she replied that she had none, they began to beat hear. Toolaram immediately took off her bangles and bracelets and gave them to the intruders. She was beaten continuously to “hand over de money and gold’ and she kept telling the bandits she didn’t have anything else.
As the beating got more severe, her daughter came out of her room and covered her, and begged the bandits to stop brutalising her. The daughter, Yougata Pitamber, who has a nine-day-old, was also set upon. At that stage her daughter decided to hand over a bag with money and jewellery.
Chitrani Toolaram could not say exactly how much jewellery she lost, but said that the bag contained items belonging to both her and her daughter.
“Because meh daughter went in hospital and me been a keep everything.”
Yougata Pitamber, who was at the hospital when Kaieteur News visited the scene, had only nine days ago undergone a Caesarean section delivery. The woman’s husband resides in the USA.
Her mother who was sobbing continuously said that she lost over $200,000 Guyana currency, US$400 and Can$400 among other valuable items that were in the bag. She said that she would not have given the thieves anything, if it wasn’t for her daughter; she was prepared to fight for her life.
“Dey woulda had to kill me, dem too steady, a fed up,” she told members of the media. “I woulda fight them to death I wasn’t giving dem nothing, but meh daughter come out ah she room and seh to give them. Dis is not the first time we suffer at the hands of bandits,” she said.
The woman said that the bandits told her daughter if she only identifies any one of them they would return to kill her. The woman’s son who lives downstairs with his wife and child attempted to venture outside, but quickly retreated after seeing the bandit with the gun.
The police they said took about 20 minutes to arrive.
Investigations are continuing.