Bandit shot during East Berbice robbery, dies

Jun 10, 2014 News

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The bandit who was shot by his accomplice during the robbery on Sunday evening at Number Two Village, East Coast Berbice, has died. The thief, who was later identified as Avinash Rambazad, called “Pandit”, 20, a labourer of Adelphi Village, East Canje, Berbice, has been described as a known character and is part of a notorious gang in the area.
Rambazad’s relatives are claiming that he was not known to be involved in anything untoward and has never being involved in police matters before.
His mother, Allimoon Azeez, 53, a fish vendor of Reliance Village, East Canje, said that her son who is the only boy among her five children lived with her daughter at Adelphi Village.  She said that she never knew her son to be involved in crime. He did part time carpentry and once went into the gold industry, but has not been back in the gold fields for some time now.
The woman said that her son was not married and had no children.  She said that she did not know much about his friends.  The last time she spoke to him was Friday when he telephoned her asking that she buy a food for him.  She did not hear from, nor see him again until she visited him in hospital yesterday.
Speaking to the Media from her Adelphi residence, the dead man’s sister Sahodra Rampersaud, a security guard, said that after her father passed away some years ago her mother lived with someone else and her brother started to live with her. She said that she left home to go to work and left her brother sleeping.
When she returned from work she got a call from a cousin who is also a security guard at the New Amsterdam Hospital. The caller asked her to come to the hospital for something ‘important’. Her cousin did not tell her what the matter was.
When she arrived at the hospital her cousin urged her for them to go into the emergency department.  She was told that ‘“Pandit’ got shot, some gun story”.
There she saw her brother lying on his side with a hole in his back. She said that he told them that his belly was hurting and that he needed some water.  “He tell we that he is going home and not to worry.”
The woman said not long after her brother succumbed.
Meanwhile, a number of persons are in custody as police continue the hunt for the remaining bandits who staged the robbery at the residence of Rohan Doodnauth, 55. The robbery went wrong after one robber accidentally shot the other, who turned out to be Avinash Rambazad.
The hapless bandit was shot after one of the gang was ordered to shoot housewife Premwattie Doodnauth.
Rohan Doodnauth, who is wheelchair-bound, operates a machine shop where he fabricates farm implements. He has been in the business for over 25 years.  Premwattie said that her husband was in a wheelchair when she got married. They do not have any children.
The gang struck shortly after the family had closed business for the day.
The four-man gang was forced to leave without their wounded partner and most of the loot after residents responded to Mrs. Doodnauth’s screams.
Mrs. Doodnauth told Kaieteur News that she had just entered her house and was about to give her brother-in-law some money when she felt someone grab her hair and press a small handgun to her head. She then realised that she was being held by a masked man, who was clad in black.
By then, two other men, also masked and clad in dark clothing, with caps and something tied over their faces, entered the house. One of the men had a ‘long gun’ and he positioned himself near the back door.
A fourth man had cornered one of Doodnauth’s employees near the storeroom and had ordered him to lie on the ground. Taking her to the living room and warning her that he would shoot, the bandit who had grabbed Mrs. Doodnauth then ordered her to hand over all of her valuables.
The woman said that she gave the robber some money, but the men demanded more and she then took off her wedding band and a bangle.
After she had handed over the valuables, the bandit who had grabbed her, ordered his accomplice who had the ‘long gun’ to shoot her.  But the gunman’s shot went wild and instead struck the bandit who was holding the loot.
“The man fall, and the one who hold me tell he ‘get up and collect the money,’ but then he told his accomplice he can’t make it. When them turn he over then them see the blood.”
Forgetting about their victims, the bandits then dragged their wounded accomplice out of the house. By then, neighbours had responded to Mrs. Doodnauth’s screams, and the robbers fled the scene, leaving the injured robber in the family’s backyard. They also left all the cash behind.
The residents had praise for the police who responded quickly. The bandit was located and transported to the New Amsterdam Hospital where he succumbed.
Mrs. Doodnauth revealed that armed men invaded their home in 2004. She survived by pleading for her life and handing over all of the family’s valuables.
Investigations are continuing.

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