Sascha Wilson
Senior Reporter
sascha.wilson@guardian.co.tt
A 67-year-old woman had a gun pressed to her head and was assaulted during a brazen home invasion in Williamsville yesterday.
Although shaken, her son, Ranjiv Maharaj, said the family was relieved the gunmen fled with only a cellphone after apparently becoming spooked.
Speaking with reporters at his Ben Lomond Village home, where the family operates a tent-rental business, Maharaj, 37, said he was upstairs while his mother was downstairs with two female workers at the time of the incident. One of the workers was also assaulted, while the other managed to escape.
He said he realised something was wrong when he heard his mother screaming.
“When I got downstairs, I saw people in the house. A few seconds later my father drove into the yard, and they jumped into their car and left. But they hit my mother, and they hit one of the workers too. That was very traumatising for them,” Maharaj said.
He estimated the ordeal lasted about a minute, during which his mother was struck with a gun and forced onto a bed.
Maharaj said the assailants drove into the yard in a dark-coloured vehicle and initially approached his mother as if they were customers. However, he believes the family was deliberately targeted.
“If my father hadn’t come when he did, it could have been much worse. You don’t know what could happen. When they come, they come with evil. They don’t care,” he said.
Noting that the family business has been operating since 2012, Maharaj said they had never previously been targeted by criminals.
He urged members of the public to remain vigilant.
“When you think people are not watching you, they are. Always be aware. They’re not only coming at night anymore—they’re coming in broad daylight, and they don’t care,” he said.
Maharaj said he contacted police immediately after the incident but claimed officers took about two hours to respond.
“Within that time, I saw two police jeeps passing up and down the road,” he added.
Following the incident, a neighbourhood chat group alerted residents to be on the lookout for a dark-coloured, new-model Toyota Aqua believed to have been used by the suspects. Residents were urged to report any suspicious activity, including unfamiliar vehicles moving slowly or parked in the area.
Meanwhile, Ben Lomond/Hardbargain/Williamsville councillor Vincent Ragoo said that while crime had declined during his three years representing the area, there had been an uptick in incidents over the past two months.
He added that, based on information from the police, officers responded promptly and patrols have been ongoing in the area.
