Security guard
Lokenaraine Mangra, 63, was so terrified that he
asked his wife to hug him close as he related his
ordeal at the hands of vicious gunmen yesterday
morning.
ALL
GONE! CARDI Technician Mr.
Etwaru Basdeo, points to where some of the
office equipment used to be. (Mike
Norville photo)
With tears in his
eyes, the father of two remarked, "This is a
new life a get. I have to take care of it."
His
fear was mirrored in the face of his wife as she
wrapped him in her arms and they sought comfort from
each other.
Mangra
said he was tortured when three gunmen robbed the
Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development
Institute, (CARDI), at Atlantic Ville, East Coast
Demerara, early yesterday morning.
He
said he was beaten on the head, face, back and hands
by one of the men while the other two ransacked the
building and carted off computers and electrical
equipment valued at $1.8M.
The
bandits fled with a laminating machine, two
Dell Monitor Computers, a
projector, two 1000
watt stablizers and a Whirlpool
Microwave from the building at Lot 14
Atlantic Ville.
Mangra
said the men climbed over the fence on the western
side of the building and sneaked up on him around
01:30 h.
One
of them jammed a handgun to his head while the
others tied his hands behind his back with duct tape
and forced him to lie face down.
The
one who kept guard repeatedly hit him in his face
with the gun and kept grinding his boots into the
back of his head, the guard related.
He
said the other two went into the lower flat of the
building and began packing articles.
Mangra
told the Chronicle that the two spent 45 minutes
ransacking the lower and upper flats of the
building, before they all left in a waiting car
which was not parked in front of the building.
The
guard, who has been working there for the past 10
months, said he did not fight back since the gunmen
threatened to kill him if he did.
"One
of dem told the one that was guarding me 'any time
he do any thing, you shoot he'", he recalled.
The
still visibly shaken watchman said he was sure that
the threat was not idle since the man also unlocked
the safety catch on the gun.
However,
the gunman guarding him promised not to shoot,
Mangra said. "He
told me, I a'int gon shoot you, but don't mek no
noise".
He
said that during the entire ordeal he kept begging
for his life.
"From
de time they tie me up, a beg dem to spare me
life".
Mangra
said he was the only one on duty yesterday morning
because the other security guard did not turn up for
work.
