A family that began occupying a home in Section “A” Block-Y Golden Grove, a mere three months ago, suffered an ordeal that left them with chop wounds, void of jewellery, and a home that was nearly destroyed by fire.

Bibi Shah, the owner of the home, said that at about 03:00 hrs on Monday, she was asleep in the front bedroom when she heard her nephew crying from the front of her house.

“I thought I was dreaming. When I got up I came in front and see a man over my nephew with a cutlass. The man was beating him in his head and telling him to lie down and don't make noise. I start to scream and he just turn to me and started to demand money and jewellery.”

See a man over my nephew with a cutlass

She noted that all she had was a pair of earring on my ears. The intruder reportedly started to beat Shah and demanded that she lie flat on her stomach next to her front door.

By this time, the noise in the house had awakened her 12-year-old daughter who occupied the next bedroom. “My daughter run out and he demanded her band and earring too.”

The man then chased the daughter back into her room and started to beat Shah and her nephew again.

The bandit gained entry into the home through a kitchen window, and then opened the back door.

“He even had my front door keys in his hand. He then throw a pillow on my face and told me if I move he would shoot me,” Shah noted.

She said that the man then called her daughter and demanded that she too lie on the floor wither face down.

The victims recalled that they saw the man peeping through the window then he said, “You all don't move the others coming just now.”

Shah said that she sprang up and the intruder jumped. Her nephew and daughter followed her lead. “We rush at him and he start to run. We just run over to a neighbour and hide.”

While at the neighbor's house Shah called the police and her son who is a rural constable.

She noted that while they were at the neighbor's house she heard a loud noise in her home and assumed that the man had returned.

When her son arrived about an hour later and they ventured over to the house they realized that there had been a fire in the house. “I don't know how it happened but I had left a lamp lit in my home and when we returned the lamp was destroyed, my table and tape deck was burnt. The inside of my house was covered in soot,” Shah said.

Although the incident happened since 03:00 hrs and a report was made about half an hour later the police reportedly only went to the home at about 07:00 hrs.

“The police finally came and told us not to touch anything until the fire department and the crime chief arrived. They said this was necessary for a report to be made so that the family could claim insurance.”

Until press time the family noted that no one had gone back to their home.

Wednesday 06-15-2005