The millionaire winner of a recent lotto jackpot was made to scale a fence Saturday evening as she desperately tried to escape four armed bandits who stormed her house and escaped with over $200,000 in cash and jewellery.

Cheryl Skeete of Eastville Housing Scheme, East Coast Demerara recently won a $37M Guyana Lottery Com-pany jackpot and was presented with her winning cheque two weeks ago.

Skeete, a fish vendor of the Stabroek Market, told Stabroek News yesterday that following her win the lottery company carried her photograph in an advertisement which appeared in the newspapers and also on the television.

Skeete said she was particularly displeased with the advertisement given the current crime situation in the country. The fish vendor said that she had approached the lottery company beforehand requesting that her photograph and other details not be published but this was not heeded and on February 25 one of the advertisements appeared in this newspaper.

Following this, Skeete said relatives and close friends warned her about the chances of her being robbed and a couple of days later unknown persons entered her yard and stole her two dogs.

Skeete said around 8:10 pm she and two other relatives were in her bedroom while her husband was watching television. She then heard someone calling her name. She told Stabroek News that she ignored the call but soon after there was loud banging on her front door. "They start to kick down the door until they get in," Skeete recalled.

According to the woman, once inside the house the four men commanded her husband to lie flat on the floor with his face down. She said they proceeded to treat her the same way while asking "wheh de lotto money deh?" The mother of six said she resisted the bandits' threats and attempted to escape while telling the bandits that she had no money.

"I tell dem me ain't lying down and I ran out the house and was about to jump over the fence when one ah dem collar me and pull me back into the house."

Skeete related that while being dragged into the house one of the bandits called on his accomplice to shoot her but the man ignored this call.

While all of this was happening outside, two of the bandits ran through Skeete's husband's pockets relieving him of a large quantity of cash. They then moved into the couple's bedroom and ransacked their wardrobe carrying away two jeans, three pairs of boots, an undisclosed sum of cash and a large quantity of gold jewellery.

One of Skeete's nephews was in his house at the time. He told Stabroek News yesterday that when the bandits entered the room he fled into the washroom and shut himself in. Skeete later opened the door and called him out. She said it was at this point she made another dash out of the house, running through the front door and scaling her fence.

The mother of six said once out of the yard she ran into a neighbour's house where she began to shout for "thief".

Her nephew said after his aunt escaped the bandits proceeded to beat him, lashing him several times on his forearm. They then returned to Skeete's husband and chopped him several times on his hand with a knife, before gathering their loot, jumping over two fences and running up the Embankment in the direction of Buxton.

Skeete was adamant that the bandits' weapons had no bullets, observing that if they had her husband would have been shot. The man received treatment at the hospital for his wounds and up to yesterday afternoon was recovering well.

Stabroek News was told that despite an alarm being raised neighbours hardly showed up. However a call was made to the Vigilance Police Station and a mobile patrol responded within minutes. Skeete said the police took a statement from them and promised to go after the bandits.

When Stabroek News visited Eastville yesterday a carpenter was repairing the broken front door while the victims were trying to come to grips with the robbery. Skeete said she was always a hardworking woman selling fish in the market along with her husband. She said they moved into the scheme two years ago and Saturday was the first time they were ever robbed. She also said the bandits threatened to return to their home.

Meanwhile, a resident criticised the police for not being alert to the situation. The resident pointed out that there was a police mobile unit stationed at Lusignan on the embankment which is a few corners away. There were also at least three mobile patrols working along the public road.

Over the past months a youth gang has sprung up in the troubled village of Buxton and already for this year it has robbed, killed and shot several persons passing through the village. The gang has also spread its wings to other communities and has been robbing citizens at will.