Seven-year-old touches heart of armed bandit during robbery

-- important documents returned to bank next day

The father of a seven-year-old boy of ABC Academy Primary School is thanking his son for saving his life Tuesday night after the child bravely reasoned with and touched the heart of one of four armed bandits who were robbing their shop at University of Guyana Road, East Coast Demerara.

Businessman Lalta Gainda told Kaieteur News yesterday that his son, Aravinda's actions also resulted in someone dropping off the family's important documents, taken in the robbery, at the National Bank of Industry and Commerce (NBIC) on Camp Street , Wednesday.

Recalling the events of Tuesday night, Gainda told Kaieteur News that he was helping his seven-year-old son with his homework while his wife, Indira, and his sister were selling in the shop.

“I gave my son some additional work, left him on his own and proceeded to close the gate to the yard to prevent more customers from entering after the 20:00hrs closing time,” he explained.

Gainda said that while he was closing the gate there were five customers in the shop, but little did he know that one of them was a bandit waiting to strike at the right moment while his accomplices waited nearby. Gainda later learnt that the men were in a car.

The business he operates produces bottled water under the brand ‘Tropical Spring Purified Drinking Water' and also houses a Money Gram facility.

According to him, one of the customers wanted a bottle of water and he went into the customer area to fill it from the dispenser with his two-year-old son, Ajay, in his hand.

“When I went out to fill that water a man in the shop -- which also had four male students from the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) -- took out a gun and pointed it to my baby son's head and held a knife to his neck and said, don't do anything, this is a stick up. He was well spoken,” he recalled.

“…At that moment the bandit saw the shock on my face and said, `Yes! This is a stick up, lie down there on the ground…'I did not go down right away because I had my baby in my hand; he struck me with the gun on the left side of my face and the child and I fell to the ground. My wife snatched the baby away from me the same time,” he told Kaieteur News.

The bandit instructed Gainda not to move and searched him to ensure that he did not have a weapon.

By this time, the bandit's accomplices had joined him.

While the gun was at the head of the baby, the men instructed Gainda's wife who was at the counter to open the grill door to the goods area of the business.

According to him, the bandit told him that he will kill the baby if his wife did not open the door and he told her to comply.

“Three of the men went behind the counter where my wife was and hit her on her head causing her to fall to the ground while one of them stayed in the customer area to keep guard over me with a gun to my head and a knife to my neck,” he reiterated.

By this time, Aravinda had come to his father's side as he was being kicked in the face by the bandit.

Some time after they had ransacked the shop and stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash as well as rob the four CPCE students, they took him to their house which is located behind the shop and kept him in the kitchen downstairs while they took his wife upstairs. They put a pillow over her face and threatened to kill her as they looted the house and carried away thousands of dollars in jewellery.

He explained: “The guy downstairs started to beat me and I began to plead with him not to kill us, but he continued to kick me in my face and hit me with the gun…he told me that he would not shoot me because the neighbours would hear the noise, but instead he would slit my throat with a knife.”

All this time, Gainda was clutching his seven-year-old son to his side and one of the kicks partially caught the boy in the face. After the businessman realised that the bandit was not giving in to his pleas, he began to pray aloud and his son told him to stop talking because if he continued the man would continue to hit him.

The boy then put his hand over his father's mouth for him to stop talking and he said, “Look, daddy, I will speak to him!”

According to Gainda, the boy turned around, stared the bandit in the face and said “listen, if you kill my father I wouldn't have any father anymore…take the money from the shop and go.” Immediately the armed bandit stopped beating his father.

“My son continued to stare him in the face without blinking and instantly the man removed the gun and the knife from me, took two steps backward and his entire disposition changed…it was as if he was sorry and wished he had not carried out the robbery…the guy looked up to the sky, looked down back, shook his head and began to look very uncomfortable.”

“At that time I knew that he was not going to hit me anymore and as I was kneeling I took the opportunity to touch him on his foot and asked him if I could have back my wallet with my driver's license and credit card, and told him he could keep the $20,000 that was in it. The bandit responded “you will get back what belongs to you.”

The bandit then called to his three accomplices who were upstairs in the house and urged them to leave the premises immediately. One of the men proceeded to take a roll of duct tape to tie up the victims but the bandit who was confronted by the seven-year-old boy instructed them not to do that. The gang headed west towards the university and disappeared without firing a single shot.