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East Coast terror
spreads -- three more slain -- 12 arrested in police operations THREE men have been killed and several others wounded in the fresh wave of terror heavily-armed gunmen have unleashed on the East Coast Demerara.
The body of Suesankar, a cattle farmer, was fished out of the Lusignan canal around 07:30 hrs yesterday after hours of intense searching by villagers.
They
told the Chronicle yesterday that they had been looking for him since
20:30 hrs Sunday but came up empty-handed. When the
villagers stumbled on his body he was naked, bound at the hands and feet
with string and his head covered with a black haversack. Parsram,
a fisherman who lived alone, was executed, shot through the right
eye. Police
said Amsterdam, a businessman, was tending to a small shop he
operated in his yard when he was shot in the left temple and in the back
by gunmen who escaped. In the
Sunday night terror rampage, the gunmen shot at least three others and
opened fire on a police patrol responding to the Annandale
killing. Police
said two members of the patrol were shot – one in the right shoulder and
the other in the right shoulder and left middle finger.
Villagers said Suesankar was ambushed by at least four men armed
with “big guns” at about 20:00 hrs after he went to bathe in the canal. He
was the only person at home at the time. His wife
Debbie, 32, who is three months pregnant, said she last saw her husband
around noon on Sunday, when he visited her mother's home in Good Hope to
have lunch. She said
he had promised to return that evening to take her home. Debbie said she
was at her mother’s for the Hindu custom of tying 'Rakhi' on her brother's
hand to show her love for him. His
killers ransacked their small shack and clothes and household items were
scattered there yesterday.
"We had
horse racing here and it had plenty beer bottles and so they probably
think he rich", one villager remarked. The
bucket that the cattle farmer was using to bathe remained floating in the
trench yesterday. Residents said they are scared to remain in the area at night, and
prefer to visit in the daytime to tend to their land and cattle before
retreating to spend the night with relatives in other
areas. Villagers said that after killing Suesankar, the gunmen proceeded
to Annandale North, where they continued their reign of terror which left
Parsram dead. "When I
was coming back home, I saw these men standing under the house but I
didn’t think nothing of it; but then I saw this long, long gun by one of
dem foot and I get frightened", Sursattie related
yesterday. She said
one of the men called out to her saying he wanted to ask her
something.
"I
couldn’t grab me daughter, because she was walking up front and I had to
run and leave her." "I run,
I really run fuh me life", she said, showing the bruise she had on her
face from the fall. Amanda
said the gunmen asked her about her mother's whereabouts. The terrified
girl said she told them she did not know where her mom was and began
crying and begging them to leave her alone. Her mother said that she heard her daughter crying for her and in the dark, quickly pulled her into the house where they remained huddled together, as gunshots rang out loudly.
After
the gunmen left, she returned home to find her house ransacked and a wrist
watch missing. The men then moved to Lot 2 Sand Reef, Annandale where the Lalls reside. The five family members were beaten by the men who stormed their home demanding cash and jewellery.
"I keep
telling them that we (didn’t have) but they still keep saying dat they
want." Lall
said she took off her gold earrings and handed these over. The family also
handed over $2,000 in cash. Dissatisfied, the gunmen began demanding more and threatened to shoot her husband, Harrychand if the demand was not met. "I den give dem $3,000 more because them seh that they woulda shoot he", Savitre related.
A
gun butt Harrychand was also hit in the head with a gun
butt.
Villagers said the gang members wore `topes’ (caps), were dressed
in civilian clothing and had long guns looking like AK-47s. The men
then fled through an open window after the ordeal which lasted some 15
minutes. Several footprints were yesterday still visible on a bed that the
men used to jump through the window. His
mother Shamdavi Lall cried uncontrollably yesterday. Villagers said the gunmen kicked open his door, calling him by his
name and demanding cash and jewellery. He
jumped through an open window but the men pursued and shot him in cold
blood. Parsram
leaves to mourn his mother, and younger siblings, Fiona 27, Ronnie 24, and
Mark 25. The
attacks were the latest on the East Coast and residents, fearful for their
lives, are contemplating moving out of the area. Five
gunmen in black clothes on Saturday morning terrorised a Coldingen family,
spraying their house with bullets, killing nine year-old Christine Sookra
and wounding her brother Ryan, 14. Sookra
was hit in the head by a bullet as the terrified family huddled together
in the front bedroom of their Lot 205, Track 'A', Coldingen
home. Twelve
days ago, gunmen launched a deadly attack on the Appanna family at Non
Pariel. In the attack, a 14-year-old girl hid under the bed while bandits
stabbed her father, Davechand, 45, to death. Her mother Hemrajie, 42, was
left unconscious from a fractured skull and stab wounds. Days after, gunmen shot and killed a young policeman, Omani Savory during a police operation in Buxton.
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