An elderly Cunupia couple was tied up and robbed by four bandits at gunpoint on yesterday morning.
The 71-year-old woman and her 74-year-old husband, who did not want to be named, told the T&T Guardian the bandits stormed their Munroe Road home around 7 am. The men placed a gun to their heads, tied them up in a bedroom and ransacked the place. They stole $4000, bottles of liquor, gold jewelry, a television and escaped in the family’s silver-grey Nissan Tiida licensed PDA 3086.
However, they were more thankful that the woman’s 93-year-old mother did not have to experience the ordeal. The woman, who is wheelchair-bound, was in the bathroom and was left alone by the men.
Recounting her experience, the 71-year-old woman, who said she was still in shock and very afraid, said she had just finished saying her morning prayers and had walked into the kitchen area to knead flour.
“I just look up while kneading the flour and I saw someone jump the gate. I started to shout ‘Who’s dat, who’s dat’ and before I know it two men ran into the kitchen and one of them put a gun to my head and said it was a hold-up. I scream out and my husband came out from a room and the man put the gun to his head too.
“They took us in a bedroom and ripped a tablecloth I had on the bed and tied us up but it wasn’t tight, maybe it was slack enough for us to wiggle out of it and free ourselves after they leave.”
She said her mother called out to them after she finished taking her shower.
“They probably noticed her wheelchair in the bathroom and knew that she couldn’t walk, that’s why they left her alone.”
The woman said one of the men said: “All yuh Indian does have jewelry and money. Where it is? I told him I didn’t have that, it had a ring, watch and a chain on the dresser and he went and take it.
“They ransacked the entire house, turn over my bag and my mother’s handbag and take all the money we had. They then tell my husband to give them the key for the car. They load up everything in the car and take the remote and drive out like if it was my husband driving out.”
She said a relative who lives right next door noticed the car leaving but did not have a clue what was happening.
The woman said he and her husband freed themselves and called the police.
“I thanked God that we weren’t beaten or shot or one of us killed,” she said.
She said one of the men was on his cellphone throughout the ordeal.
“Like whoever he was talking to was telling them what to do and to hurry up.”
The woman said a team of police officers responded to their report about 30 minutes later.
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of the vehicle or the intruders is asked to call the police at 482-GARY, 555, 999, 800 TIPS, the Cunupia Police Station or the nearest police station.
Investigations are continuing.