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Hogtied, beaten with a stainless steel pot, sprayed with insecticide and set on fire for $5,500 and a gold ring.
This is what 69-year-old livestock farmer Wayne Bowen endured two Thursdays ago when three bandits invaded his Cumuto Road, Wallerfield, home demanding cash and valuables.
To ensure the intruders—one of whom was armed with a gun did not assault or kill his wife— Bowen said he had to put up a fight that almost cost him his life.
Still traumatised and shaken by the near-death experience Bowen said: “What is happening in the farming community of Wallerfield is not praedial larceny. It is robbery with violence. We are under siege by criminal elements who have been making our lives a living hell,” Bowen said.
Bowen’s first encounter with the bandits took place on April 22 when he was awakened by a noise outside his home and upon checking saw one of his glass windows had been broken by two men who were trying to cut open his burglar-proofing.
The armed thieves then went to his back door which they tried smashing in.
“I raised an alarm but this did not even scare them. They kept demanding that I open up,” Bowen recalled.
Bowen said he pulled a cutlass and stood at the side of the door waiting to see their next course of action.
In the meantime, his frantic 65-year-old wife Maria telephoned E911 for help but the officer who took the call after asking Bowen several questions told him he did not need assistance and hung up the phone.
The elderly couple were left to fend for themselves.
“Luckily one of the thieves looked up and saw me with the blade in my hand and they ran off.”
Almost a month later, on May 19, Bowen’s home came under attack again. Three thieves wearing ski masks ambushed Bowen while he was tending to his livestock around 5 am.
“The men hid in a goat pen and launched an attack while my back was turned.”
Bowen said he reacted and began to tussle with the intruders, one of whom had a gun. But the senior citizen was overpowered, manhandled and dragged inside his home where his wife was getting ready for work.
“When I reach the living room I decided to put up another fight to distract them from going after my wife because these home invasions don’t ever end up nice, especially for women.”
Bowen said in the scuffle, he bit one of the bandit’s fingers, squeezed the testicles of another and charged into the third.
“It was a fight for survival.”
The criminals restrained Bowen and the couple was hogtied.
“We had $5,500 in cash and my wife’s wedding ring which we gave them.”
However, the robbers wanted more and began ransacking their home.
“They turned everything upside down in the house but came up empty-handed. That’s when they started beating me for more money and jewellery.”
Helpless and lying on the ground in his living room, Bowen was repeatedly hit on his head with the gun butt, punched in his face, ear and stomach and kicked in his ribs by the heartless and vicious men.
“They hit me so hard that my eardrum burst. They kept telling me the amount of animals I have outside I must have more money and jewels in the house. They say during COVID farmers did not stop working because people had to eat food so I must have money stashed away. But I had already given them all that I had. That’s when they say they will break my legs if I did say where I was hiding the money,” Bowen said.
The men went into the kitchen and returned with a stainless pot and began mercilessly beating Bowen on his legs.
“Lord, they beat me with that pot until the rivets that holding the handle get slack. It was blows evermore. I just sat there writhing in pain. When they realised the licks wasn’t working...they say they will light me on fire.”
At that point, Maria began to cry and pleaded with the bandits to desist from further harming and assaulting her husband whose face was already swollen and covered in blood.
“But they just didn’t care. Them fellas came with the devil and Satan in them. They picked up a tin of insecticide and sprayed the coverall I was wearing.”
Bowen knew the worst was yet to come and tried to crawl to his wife to comfort her for what he thought was his last.
As Bowen inched his way closer to his wife, two of the thieves held him down, while the third assailant used a cigarette lighter to set the hem of his coverall on fire.
His heart raced as the flickering flame burned through his socks.
“I began saying the 23rd Psalm and praying aloud because I know I was walking through the valley of death.”
Bowen even asked God for forgiveness.
However, his prayers were answered when the flame suddenly went out.
Twice after that, Bowen said, the bandits tried to light his clothing, but on both occasions, the fire was extinguished on its own.
“I have to say, through God’s divine intervention I was saved. But these men were still adamant that they didn’t get enough. There I accepted the fact that I could still die and told the bandits I have nothing else to give all yuh, so hear what to do, all you go ahead and kill me...just kill me. They told me is my wife they wanted to kill so they could watch me suffer.”
Bowen said the length of time the thieves spent terrorising, torturing and tormenting them, daybreak came and they decided to go.
“Before leaving they helped themselves to a pork leg and shoulder in the freezer, a bottle of brandy and whisky, our TV and other appliances which they placed in our car and made good their escape.”
The couple managed to free themselves and Bowen was taken to the Arima General Hospital where he was treated and discharged.
A report was also made at the Arima Police Station.
“I hope when the Lord ready and he lights his fire on them wicked and evil bandits they could take it like a man...the same way I take my punishment. because God doh sleep,” Bowen told Guardian Media on Saturday.
Stilling nursing wounds, Bowen said: “I wouldn’t tell anybody to do what I did...but at the moment I did what I felt I had to do because if I didn’t fight them and allow them to peacefully tie me up, my wife would have been in serious problems...my wife might have been dead today. The kind of pressure I take from them fellas my wife would not have been able to take a quarter of that. She would have died and they might have killed me too in the process. So, it was a fight for life.”
The car was found abandoned in Wallerfield days later.
Bowen said this was his third home invasion and robbery.
Head of the Northern Division Senior Supt Christopher Pamponette told Guardian Media on Sunday that the police investigation has led to an arrest and charge of one suspect so far while enquiries continue.
Pamponette admitted there were incidents of people being robbed in Wallerfied in the last few months.
“Because of this, we have increased the patrols and we are also in consultation with the Defence Force to partner with them. We are also examining other strategies with the community.”
Pamponette also promised to investigate Bowen’s claim that an officer failed to act when his life was in danger.
“You know, this is not what police officers are taught. We are trained in customer service. Sometimes these incidents embarrass the police and I hope this did not occur. If it did occur, we will look into it,” Pamponette said.
Acting Police Commissioner McDonald Jacob said he knows the TTPS has come under some criticisms lately but his officers are trying their best.
“In fact, next week we will be having a meeting with the Mayor (Arima) to cover all those areas in Wallerfield.”
