Bandits strike Foulis family: cart off over $400,000 in cash and jewellery
By Shawnel Cudjoe and Leeron Brumell


Ms Bibi Sabrah Ramsarran relates her ordeal yesterday.
TWO armed bandits, one of them masked, attacked and robbed a Foulis, East Coast Demerara (ECD) family of over $400,000 in cash and jewellery.

The robbery was committed on the Ramsarran family of Lot 103 Foulis (ECD) around 19:15 hrs.

Ms Bibi Sabrah Ramsarran, the mother, said that she was about to enter the outside bathroom when the telephone rang. As she moved to answer the phone, someone grabbed her from behind and covered her mouth with his hand. The man then warned her not to scream.

He then tied her mouth with the end of a curtain panel to prevent her from raising an alarm.

The taller of the two bandits, who was without a mask, then demanded cash, while the other intruder proceeded to ransack the two-bedroom house.

She said the men then demanded jewellery and threatened to hold her 16-year-old daughter hostage if their demands were not met.


The house that was attacked by armed bandits Friday night.
Ms Ramsarran related that she then handed over G$90,000, US$200 and items of jewellery, which were worth about G$300,000. The men also picked up a ‘Rambo’ knife that was in the house.

The still traumatised Ramsarran, recounted that one point of the ordeal, when they had untied the gag from her face, she began telling the men (whom she said were of African descent) about Jesus. She said she implored them to take anything they wanted but not to harm her daughter because her daughter is the most important person to her.

“I think because I started telling them about Jesus that they spared our lives,” she reasoned.

The householder explained that the local currency would have been used to complete works to the lower flat of her home, while the US dollars were for her daughter’s ‘Penny Bank’.

Ms Ramsarran was unable to say in which direction the men had made good their escape since they had instructed her to close the door behind them.


Members of the household and their relatives.
Ramsarran’s husband, Dayaram, who had left for work about an hour earlier, is of the view that the men made their escape into the Bare Root area via a small bridge a short distance from the family’s home.

The family contacted the Enmore Police Station, and ranks responded promptly to the call. The Policemen took statements and dusted the house for fingerprints.

Ramsarran said that the area is usually quiet around that time of the evening. Their immediate neighbour had gone to the Mosque, while the others were unaware of what was taking place.

When Chronicle visited the home yesterday, relatives were offering comforting words to the family, who are hoping to recover from the incident. They said that in their four and a half years of living in the area, this incident was the first.

Ms Ramsarran and her husband are baffled as to the motive for the robbery since they do not operate a business.

 

November 10, 2003