Stabroek News
April 27, 2001

A Canadian investor was robbed at gun point at his rented 3892 South Ruimveldt home on Monday evening before departing for his homeland the following morning.

His wife, who did not want to be identified, said she, her husband and sister were watching television at around 10:15 pm, when two men wearing wigs and carrying guns entered the home. She said they pointed the guns at them and demanded that they lie face down on the floor and cooperate with their demands.

The bandits collected the loot and left without a shot being fired. The businessman's wife also said that none of them had been beaten by the bandits.

She said one of the men relieved her husband of US$20,000, diamond and gold jewellery and $10,000. Demanding more cash and jewellery, one of them proceeded to the investor's computer bag and stole another US$2,000.

She said both men were negotiating what else to take in terms of the home's furnishings and that after a debate, one of them took the VCR.

They ended their pillage by forcing the trio into the laundry room and closing the door. The woman said she heard one of them struggling unsuccessfully with a key in the door to lock it.

The entire affair took place in the downstairs flat of the residence where the trio lived for some six months.

The woman said the house had an alarm system, but it was never turned on until they retired for the evening. She said that her sister had turned it on after the bandits left, which alerted residents that something was amiss.

"I thought it was bad dream," she told this newspaper, breaking into tears.

The distraught woman said she was not sure whether her husband would return to Guyana to further his business activity in the wake of the robbery. She said she was desirous of living in Guyana, not in Canada, and that her husband "loves it here" but unfortunately they might have to reconsider.

Police are investigating.

This newspaper also understands that yesterday morning a robbery was foiled in the same area.