T&T Guardian senior sub-editor Phillip Matheson was bound, gagged and robbed at his Arouca home around 2.30 pm on Wednesday. Matheson was ill at home when he was accosted by two men, he said. The men were dressed in jeans and red and orange jerseys. One carried a backpack. They were not masked. The men apparently entered through a door which had been left ajar. The two "hogtied" Matheson with his ties and electrical cords. They also blindfolded him and gagged him with a T-shirt. They searched and ransacked his premises for close to an hour, he estimated.
"It seems they were looking for something," Matheson said yesterday. The men left, taking his two laptop computers, two cellphones, a printer, and personal documents which included ID, and bank cards. Matheson also recalled while the robbery was in progress one of the robbers received a cellphone call. He overheard the robbers telling the person on the other end of the line: "Remember this is a partnership." During the robbery, Matheson said one of the robbers also held a knife to his throat and threatened to kill him as he demanded his ATM pin number six times, Matheson said. They later went to a nearby bank and cleaned out his ATM account. (GA)