A man who is said to be a well-known thief on Friday afternoon invaded the home of an elderly couple at Paradise, Essequibo Coast and escaped with an undisclosed amount of cash after attempting to hit a 70-year-old man in the head with a hammer. Reports now indicate that the suspect’s wife has admitted to cutting the holes in the toque the man used as a mask.
The suspect has been identified as a 24-year-old of Walton Hall, Essequibo. The man, who lives a village away from the victims of Friday’s attack, was reportedly charged on numerous occasions for robberies.
The elderly couple has asked that their names be omitted from this article since they are still traumatised by the attack which could have left the elderly husband dead or severely injured.
According to information received, the husband and wife operate a shop at their home and would usually leave their gate open for customers to enter. On Friday afternoon, the suspect entered the victims’ yard and walked straight to their door, which is located at the side of the house.
The thief allegedly went straight to the 70-year-old man, who was sitting on a chair, and fired several lashes at him, all the while aiming for the man’s head. The victim dodged and attempted to wrestle his attacker but the young bandit grabbed a knife from the waistband of his pants and tried to stab the elderly man.
The Guyana Standard has been informed that as the two men wrestled the victim’s wife ran to her bag with cash and handed it over to the suspect, who then escaped.
The suspect is said to have had a toque covering his face during the robbery but, as he ran out of his victims’ yard, he removed the covering, unknowingly revealing his identity to the 70-year-old man, who had run out behind him. Surveillance camera also captured his face.
A female relative of the victim said that after the victim recognised the thief, the elderly man got into his vehicle and drove behind him. “He [victim] saw when he [suspect] ran through a street and run into his house with the bag of cash. He then reported it to the police.”
According to information received, the suspect escaped from Essequibo but was subsequently arrested on Sunday at the Meadow Bank Wharf in Georgetown and has since confessed to the crime. The toque and knife that were used in the robbery were recovered.
Additionally, the suspect had left one of his slippers at the victims’ home. His wife has since admitted that it belonged to her. She also claimed that she made the holes on the toque for her husband to rob the elderly couple.
The victims’ family is questioning the reason as to why the woman has not been arrested as yet since she has admitted to helping him. The relatives are calling on the magistrate to give the suspect the maximum sentence for the robbery since he would have been charged many times before and seems to have no interest in mending his ways.
They are also asking the magistrate to consider the fact that the 70-year-old man could have lost his life in the home invasion.
