Bandits shoot guard dog, rob proprietor

“Doh worry, yuh go get back yuh car,” bandits assured Vijai Maharaj early Saturday morning as they drove off with his Nissan Medallist car shortly after they robbed him and his friends of several thousand dollars worth of cash and jewelry. Within half an hour the bandits left Maharaj’s car along a main road not far away.

According to Maharaj, proprietor of Japs Restaurant and Bar of Ragoonanan Road, Enterprise, Chaguanas, he and several friends were liming and cooking under a shed at the back of his home, after the bar closed around 11pm Friday. He reported that at about 12.30am a shot rang out and they heard the gate rattle. His son called out, “bandits” and ran into the house, locking the boor behind him.

Maharaj told Sunday Newsday the shot hit his Rotweiller dog in the neck and instantly killed the animal. Within seconds, he said, three masked men, each armed with a shot gun and wearing army clothes and gloves, entered the shed area and ordered everyone to lie on the ground. He said one of the bandits, who also had a handgun, stood over him and pointed the shotgun directly at his head. The bandits reportedly emptied the pockets of all the men on the floor, relieving them of cash and whatever jewelry they may have had. Some of his friends, Maharaj said, sustained minor injuries such as bruises and burst lips.

Maharaj said he himself was relieved of $5,000 which he had in his pocket and over $6000 worth of jewelry, including his wedding ring. The men, he said, then went into the bar through an open back door and took $1,500 from the cash register. Maharaj said they filled their pockets with cigarettes and filled two bags which they brought with them, with cigarettes, beers, rum and whiskey. He estimated that the stock taken was valued approximately $5,000.

Luckily, the proprietor added, the bandits were not able to go into the house where his wife and daughter-in-law were asleep. His daughter-in-law is in her final month of pregnancy. According to Maharaj’s son, the entire incident lasted under 15  minutes, during which time he called the police from inside the house. He said police arrived on the scene about three or four minutes after the bandits left in his father’s  car. The vehicle was recovered about 30 minutes later at David Toby Road, Chin Chin. The proprietor said the bandits seemed to have known him since they kept calling him by his name. He said he had previously applied for a firearm licence but was refused.