Bandits shoot wildly at house after failing to gain entry

Jul 25, 2012 News

There was yet another bandit attack at crime-stricken Number 19 Village, Corentyne, during the wee hours yesterday.

Kajewattie ‘Nalo’ Bachan

At around 02:30 hrs, four armed bandits started to break the window bars off the home of Kajewattie ‘Nalo’ Bachan. The woman and her husband were awakened by the sounds of the men who were trying to gain access to the building from the side windows. The woman immediately hid her children in another room and her husband tried to prevent the bandits from entering the home through the window.
She related that they began to fire several shots. Then we started to shout ‘thief, thief!’”. The men were deterred from their mission and “all of a sudden, they disappeared and then a bit after, they went on my bridge and started to fire shots at the front of my home and broke my windows and they gone”, she said.
The men did not leave without shooting more bullets towards the verandah and front windows from the bridge, where they stood. Luckily the Bachans were unharmed and the bandits were unable to gain access to or take anything from the home.
The police arrived quickly and recovered four spent shells. No arrests have been made.
Number 19 Village runs along the longest and continuous straight road in the Caribbean and forms part of the Corentyne Highway.
The attackers are becoming more brazen. They carry out their attacks both in the day and night and also when persons are attending events in the village. For the year alone, according to residents, Number 19 Village has suffered 11 attacks from bandits and thieves, many of which go unrecorded by the media.

The windows that were destroyed after being shot at by bandits.

A few months ago, residents in the village arranged a meeting with Senior Police officials in ‘B’ Division, including Assistant Commander, Eric Bassant, but residents said only promises were made. Residents had also asked the authorities to re- activate the Lewis Manor Impact Base and station armed officers there to deter thieves, bandits and criminals from pouncing on the village, but to date, nothing has happened.
Home Affairs Minister Rohee and several government officials had met with residents of the area in May to discuss security matters. That meeting ended with more disagreements than agreements. Residents of Number 19 do not have access to line telephone services neither do their roads have many street lights, for which they have been calling, and which has been falling on deaf ears.
(Leon Suseran)