Bus waylaid at Buxton, commuters robbed
Stabroek News
September 6, 2002
Ambush set up by youth Passengers of a Route 50, Georgetown/Rosignol mini-bus were robbed at gunpoint yesterday morning while several Buxton residents looked on.
Despite army patrols, hold-ups of this kind are now quite common in the vicinity of Buxton and neighbouring villages.
At around 9:45 am, four bandits all armed with guns held up the mini-bus for more than 15 minutes between Company and Church roads. The driver of the mini-bus who said he was “utterly disgusted” at the ambush related that he had been on his first trip for the day to the city when the bandits struck. The man who did not want to give his name said he had picked up a few passengers in the Mahaicony area and also at Mahaica. He explained that because his mini-bus plies the No.50 route he would not normally solicit passengers on the East Coast and would only stop if a passenger was coming off.
But yesterday at Buxton a young man, who in his opinion was in his late teens, flagged him down. The driver said the teenager was wearing a green T-shirt tucked into a pair of brown docker pants and looked like a student who was late for classes. So he stopped.
The driver said the young man went up to the bus, hesitated for a few seconds and peeped inside, carefully screening the passengers.
While the driver was waiting for the youth to get in, three bandits suddenly surrounded the vehicle. He said one of them had dreadlocks, while the other two were scruffy looking and wore three quarter pants.
One of the bandits ran up to the driver’s window and pointed a gun to his head.
The bandit ordered him to turn off his engine and then snatched $5,000 “change money” from his breast pocket. Meanwhile the other two men went into the mini-bus and began stripping the passengers of their cell phones, jewellery and cash.
One passenger, Miss Griffith, a vendor at the Bourda Market was not robbed since she quickly hid her purse under her dress.
Shortly after, one of the men came out and held a hammer to the vehicle’s windscreen, telling the driver he would shatter the glass if he did not cooperate. The driver said the man with the hammer snatched a bag from a woman sitting in front, took out $20,000 and then threw the bag in her face. He then took off her wedding band. He also took $5,000 and the watch of the man sitting next to her. The driver said he saw residents of Buxton standing quite close to the scene casually looking on, or ignoring what was happening. In addition, vehicles passed by and no one stopped to help.
During the hold up, one of the gunmen realised the driver was wearing a gold ring and ordered him to take it off. The driver pleaded to keep it since he had been wearing the ring for thirty years. But the bandit insisted and threatened to bite it off if the driver did not hurry. The men then walked calmly away south, into the village.
The driver told Stabroek News that no one was hurt. Reports were made to the Vigilance and Beterverwagting Police stations. The driver and eight of the passengers gave statements to the police who promised to carry out an investigation. The driver said he asked an officer why there were no ranks of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) nearby. The officer said they were all on the railway embankment road.
He hoped that in the future there would be patrols on both roads in the future. Stabroek News understands another bus was held up in a similar fashion earlier in the morning.