Middle Road residents live in fear of bicycle, motorcycle bandits

Jul 25, 2020 News

By Shervin Belgrave

Residents of Middle Road, La Penitence, Georgetown have secured themselves in the wake of increased attacks from armed robbers that prowl their neighbourhood on bicycles and motorcycles.

Dead: Navin Samaroo was fatally shot and robbed while driving through Middle Road.

Kaieteur News learnt of this, while at the scene of a suspected robbery and fatal shooting of a 23-year-old marketing representative, Navin Samaroo, on Thursday last. Samaroo was driving along the Street when two men on a motorcycle rode up beside him as he slowed down at a pot-hole. The pillion rider shot the young man and grabbed a bag from his car before speeding off with his accomplice. He was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) by a nearby resident, but was pronounced dead on arrival.
When visiting the scene of the shooting on Thursday, this newspaper observed that location was not crowded with curious onlookers. Almost everyone had remained indoors – while some were seen peeping through their windows, a few were brave enough to stand in their yards but behind locked gates.
No one had a clue of how the fatal shooting occurred. The most anyone could tell both journalists and the police was that they “only heard a loud explosion”. Some detailed that they had peered outside, saw the car and taught it was a punctured tyre. Others said that they learnt of the shooting after an alarm was raised by a few pedestrians and motorists passing by.
According to the police investigating the case, the residents were “tight-lipped”. A few became comfortable with this reporter and began to reveal the reasons why the residents of Middle Road remained locked up in their homes.

Police on Middle Road investigating Thursday’s fatal shooting.

One woman, Mary (not her real name) said that, as of recent, she was forced to lock her gates 24/7. She detailed that she along with family members are afraid to step out of the house because of the number of armed robberies that have been occurring recently in the area.
“We are afraid to go to work that we put ourselves in expense to use taxis…We don’t want to walk down the street because someone might attack, kill or rob us”, said Mary. The woman went on to say that every day, they are forced to listen to the harrowing tales of robberies in their neighbourhood.
Another man who asked to remain anonymous said that these occurrences have been on the increase. He highlighted that bandits on bicycles armed with knives would prowl the area in the wee hours of the morning. He claimed that his neighbours and himself were attacked and robbed more than once while on their way to work. The man was quite vocal and said that he wants more police patrol in the area.
“A regular police patrol in middle road won’t be too difficult of a task, because the police station is right next door”, he said.
As Kaieteur News continued to go house to house for details on the shooting, more residents began echoing that armed robberies are a common thing in Middle Road.
John (not his real name) told this newspaper that he fears for his children’s lives.
“My son uses this road to go to work,” ‘John’ said, “He leaves early in the morning and comes home late in the evening. I am afraid that one of these days they might shoot him and kill him because he dresses well and buy his lil fancy thing and plus he get a nice phone”.
John detailed that these bandits would ride up and down the streets with motorbikes as well: “These motorbike boys are normally armed with guns, they even thieving people motorcycles as well… Look the other day, them ride up to a man and he wife stick them up and then ride away with the people bike”
He said that he is angry that the Ruimveldt Police Station is not far away and these crimes continue to occur every day.
Meanwhile another resident told Kaieteur News that these bandits are also sneaking into their yards at nights looking for bounty. He claimed that recently he lost valuable items from his yard worth more than $50,000. The resident said, “This is not the first time that I have lost things from my yard but with this shooting, I am even more afraid that they might start entering our homes in the night as well and kill us”.