Residents said the men escaped in the direction of the Railway Embankment road where a car was waiting for them.
They said the attackers were about 10 unmasked, heavily armed men who reportedly sexually assaulted two young women and set alight a bereaved man who was being consoled by relatives and friends at a wake as he waited to bury his wife yesterday.

The wife of Haroon Rasheid, 56, also known as `Babsie', recently died in a road accident. Rasheid, who has a stroke, was hospitalised yesterday for burns about his body.

The attackers were reportedly led by Premium Sukraj, 22, also known as 'Inspector Gadget', a fisherman of 35 Groenville Pasture, West Coast Demerara and Buxton.

Police last week issued a wanted bulletin for Sukraj and yesterday reissued an appeal to the public to help track him down.

ATTACKED: one of the rooms in Moniram's house that was ransacked by the bandits.
Police said the man, brown in complexion, about 5' 8" tall and thin, is wanted in connection with rape and a series of robberies on the East Coast Demerara, Georgetown and West Coast Demerara.

The Police say he is armed, considered very dangerous and operates with a gang from Buxton.

Anyone knowing the whereabouts of Sukraj is asked to get in touch with the nearest Police station or call the telephone numbers - 229-2957, 226-6978, 225-8196, 226-1326, 225-3650, 225-2772 or 226-1333.

According to residents of Section `B', Non Pariel, the bandits struck for about 20 minutes from 03:00 hrs. The neighbourhood was awakened by heavy banging sounds on several homes in the area, they said.

Those who were attacked and robbed are businesswoman Roxanne Gittens, mechanic Tekchan Moniram and his reputed wife Ramonie and Seeraj Lilliah.

The bandits also attempted to break into the home of Patrick Mohamed, but did not succeed because the house is heavily grilled with steel bars.

Gittens said that at about 03:00 hrs, she was awakened by the barking of her dogs and those in the neighbourhood and this was followed by the sound of shattering glass.

She said that when she got up from her bed, she realised the breaking sound was coming from her neighbour's home.

TARGET: Lilliah's family home where bandits attacked.
"At the same minute I heard my window shatter and I came out of the bedroom and saw a guy pointing a gun through the front window. I said, `What is it you want?' and he responded by asking me to open the door."

She said she then spoke to her two sons who were also awake and asked them to stay calm because they were rushing out to the front of the house.

Gittens said she opened the door and the gunman entered and asked her where were the others living with her in the house. She said she told him that those with her were her two sons, Rawle, 18 and Rodwell, 22, and a daughter Odetta.

He then asked "weh de money deh" but she said she told him she did not have any.

The bandit pointed out to her that she has a shop in front of the yard and therefore she was supposed to have money, Gittens said.

The mother said he then took away a stocking she was wearing on her head and used it to cover his face. At that time about three other gunmen entered the house and began to ransack the bedrooms where her daughter and sons were, she said.

However, in trying to persuade the gunmen that she really did not have what they might expect, Gittens said she took out $3,000 in cash she had and gave this to one of them after her sons told her she should hasten to do so.

The attackers also took a Compact Disc player valued at $25,000, she said.

While the Gittens family was going through that ordeal, the other bandits were busy terrorising other families in the area.

Gittens recalled seeing four other men attacking her neighbours just as the attackers were leaving her home.

While these attacks were being carried out, one man with a big gun was standing at the road intersection keeping watch and making signals to his accomplices, residents said.

Gittens' neighbour, Moniram who was at home with his wife, said he was awakened by loud banging at his window and he screamed to alert the neighbourhood. He said he saw five men in the yard and they joined their accomplices who were trying to break into the house from the side windows.

Moniram said that as the men were trying to break down his door and were unable to do so after about 10 minutes, one of them said, "Oh, he mother s---- nah come out, me a kill am."

The bandits then fired a gunshot in the air and the mechanic said this forced him to respond. He said he told the gunmen that he will open the door and let them in.

He said that when he opened the door and went outside, one of the bandits struck him on the head with a gun, ordered him back inside and asked him to lie on the bed. One of the men also struck him in the chest with a hammer while another stamped him on his neck demanding cash, he recalled.

Another put a gun butt into his mouth threatening to kill him. Moniram said his wife, after hearing the threats, came out from where she was hiding in the house and handed over a quantity of jewellery valued at $300,000 and three U.S. dollar notes.

Even though the wife had handed over the jewellery, the men put a gun to her head threatening to shoot, he said.

He said that although he told the men that that was all they had, they continued to terrorise them, hitting them with a gun.

"After all dis, me seh all yuh kill me man, me na resist, me na do nothing". The bandits ceased terrorising the family and went away.

Lilliah, who was also attacked and robbed, said he too was awakened when the bandits knocked at his window with a garden fork belonging to the family and gained entry into the house.

They also broke down a door through which some of the others entered.

Lilliah, a carpenter, said that when the men entered the house they kicked him in the head and demanded money and jewellery, but he told them he didn't have any money since he would not be paid until Friday.

However, his wife who was also at home with their three children, handed over $4,000 which were the proceeds from chickens she rears to sell, he said.

The men also took a video cassette recorder and a hammer from the home. He said one of the bandits who was armed with a cutlass threatened to chop off the fingers of his eight-year-old son Mark if he did not find his mother's money and give them.

The wife said her son found a few $100 notes and gave these to the bandits.