Parfaite Harmonie residents fed up of burglaries

Mar 05, 2017 News

-An average of five reported cases daily

The beauty and potential that is La Parfaite Harmonie Housing Scheme, West Bank

Residents are pleading for street lights to be erected in the ever expanding scheme.

Demerara is being tainted by the daily trauma experienced by residents. Most the people from the community are unable to even get a good night’s rest, in fear of what they might wake up to find.
Some persons go to bed with the fear of waking up to discover their doors sprawled and their houses empty. There are others who are even more afraid of opening their bedroom doors, only to find perpetrators standing on the other side, in the one place where they were supposed to feel most safe – their homes.
Late Wednesday evening, the community’s people took another hit. There were at least three break and enter incidents, but only one was reported at La Grange Police Station.
The Lot 3784 Westminster, Phase Two, La Parfaite Harmonie home of Neil Redman and his family was ransacked, with a number of appliances stolen, including a television set valued at $450,000, two cellular phones valued at $20,000 each and close to $200,000 in cash.
Redman, a Veterinarian, explained that his mother had just a few days ago, collected a “box hand” and was keeping the money in her purse.
“Whoever did it carried away the purse with everything inside, make-up and so on,” the young man said.
He explained that his sister, who usually works a night shift, was the last person to come home, around midnight on Wednesday.
“She made sure she locked the door before going to bed, but is when my mother wake up around four ‘o’ clock Thursday morning to cook, then she see the door wide open and the things missing,” Redman told this newspaper.

The Redman family home was burgled in the wee hours of Thursday.

The discovery resulted in the traumatised woman blurting out a loud scream that awoke neighbours, many of whom were too scared to leave their homes to ensure the woman’s safety. Redman told Kaieteur News that from all indications, the backdoor was broken into.
“It looks like it’s one person that did it, and it doesn’t seem like they had enough time to carry away much more than what they did.”
As the sun came up, the Redman family visited La Grange Police Station, where the matter was reported and is currently being investigated.
But this was not the only incident that happened on Wednesday night. There were two other break and enter incidents that were not reported to the police, but to this newspaper.
Kaieteur News was told that in the area of Onderneeming, Parfaite Harmonie, a family’s yard and storage den was ransacked.
“Dem carry away a wheelbarrow, a rake, a fork, a hoe, and probably some other things that we ent really check out yet. I fed up living hay. Is a nice place, but it look like when yuh come live hay, yuh got fuh prepare fuh keep spending yuh money to buy back everything that yuh wuk hard to buy in the first place,” a resident, Nandanie Brown said.
She told this newspaper of the expenses that her immediate neighbour has to grapple with after bandits raided his car and minibus, removing their batteries.
“It happened the same Wednesday night, but the man nah deh home right now.”
Asked why the two matters were not reported to the police, Brown said, “It nah mek sense. Is every day people getting robbed in here, and I feel like is the same set of boys that the police already know about, but they don’t do anything.”
Another resident pointed out that while police ranks do show up sometimes to take statements, they never return to take fingerprints and search for other evidence that may link the neighbourhood’s “bad boys” to any of the crimes.
“This is why when yuh go to the courts, the cases does be dismissed, because the police don’t come searching for proper evidence,” the resident opined.
A police official told this newspaper that the force handles approximately five cases of break and enter occurring in the La Parfaite Harmonie area, on a daily basis.
Contacted for figures, Divisional Commander, Leslie James said that only the more important cases like robbery under arms are reported to him.
Residents are demanding the erection of street lights, since many streets are pitch-dark after a certain hour.
“Is only some people who can afford it does put up they own lights, otherwise, the place does be scary dark. When it pass seven o’clock, yuh got to tremble and walk down the road,” a young resident told this newspaper.