Girl injured in South robbery

SAN FERNANDO businessman Rabindranath Maharaj was robbed on Saturday night at his home during which his ten-year-old daughter was struck with one of the bandits’ gun.

The incident happened around 9:15 pm when Maharaj, 46, his wife, Joy, 41 and their two daughters were about to drive into their garage at Soogrim Street, Gulf View, La Romaine. According to police reports, Joy alighted from their Lexus station wagon to open the gate but as she did so, she saw two men walked briskly towards her husband, who was sitting behind the steering wheel. The report stated that the men pointed guns at Maharaj and ordered him out the vehicle. One of his daughters, Sherry, 13, who was also in the wagon, remained in the vehicle, police said. Police said that the men ordered Maharaj to lie flat on the road in front his house and ordered he hand over a pouch he was carrying.

The pouch, the report stated, contained several thousand dollars. Reports are that the amount could have been more than $10,000. The men then proceeded to relieve Maharaj of two gold chains and a ring, the report stated. The men also took clothing valued $350 and a bag containing medicine. Joy told Newsday yesterday that by the time she open the gate for her husband to drive in, she spotted the men approaching. The woman said she stood by the opened gate with her daughter Shanada in shock as the bandits robbed her husband, who was still lying on the road. Joy told Newsday that before she could raise an alarm, one of the bandits pounced on her and tried to snatch Shanada. A struggle ensued during which the bandit placed a gun at the child’s chin. Joy, still upset by the ordeal yesterday when Newsday visited, said she slapped the man’s hand. The gun butt, she added, struck Shanada in the cheek.

Yesterday, Shanada’s cheek appeared bruised. Joy said that the bandit proceeded to snatch a bag she was holding in which more money and two sets of keys. Joy said the men fled on foot and apparently escaped in a waiting car. The woman said that during the ordeal, as her husband lay on the road and the bandits’ attempt to grab her daughter, the children began to scream. Their cries alerted neighbours who rushed to the family’s assistance. Within minutes, a joint team of police and army personnel arrived on the scene. Maharaj told New-sday yesterday that the family had been robbed for the fifth time in the past few years and “I just fed-up”. An angry Maharaj vowed: “If I had a firearm licence those men would have been dead.” PCs Santlal and Maharaj of the San Fernando Police Station are conducting inquiries.