After praying and begging bandits who broke into their home not to rape and murder them, a 77-year-old businesswoman and her 40-year-old daughter are planning to move abroad.
“I have to fly out of here. I cannot stay here,” Shirley Baliramsingh said when asked how she plans to recover from the traumatising invasion at her home in Philippine, San Fernando, yesterday.
With her other daughter Shelly crying over the phone in the United States, plans were already afoot to purchase plane tickets and secure accommodation in Florida.
Baliramsingh said she locked the house and went to bed at 10.30 pm. She sleeps with Dianne, who has a congenital spinal defect and has to use a walker. At 2 am, however, three masked men in dark clothing, including one with a Venezuelan accent, shook her out of her sleep.
Dianne began beating the bandits with a pillow, but Baliramsingh stopped her as they threatened to kill them.
The bandits, armed with guns and a long blade, used a telephone cord and computer mouse to tie Baliramsingh and Dianne’s feet together and their arms behind their backs. They used clothing to gag the women before scouring the house, removing sheets, towels and clothing from drawers, closets and even the dryer as they searched for valuables.
“These men came up in front of me and said, Shhh! Be quiet. They asked me where the money was. I did not know what to say, so I told them the money was in the drawer closet. Then they asked me where the jewelry was, and they went into the master bedroom and took all my diamonds and necklaces,” Baliramsingh said.
The men stole over $100,000 in jewelry, $17,000 in cash, US$2,000, a television, DVR and monitor, alcohol, and mobile phones. They then loaded the items into Baliramsingh’s $400,000 Nissan Qashqai SUV and drove away.
Baliramsingh took about an hour to loosen her restraints and called out to a neighbour, who contacted San Fernando police.
“I was only praying to God: Do not rape me or kill me. They said they were going to kill me. The man had a gun on my head, so you know, and it was a big piece of iron he had in his hand. It was a gun and a long knife. They said they were going to kill us. I said, ‘Please, do not kill us’.”
Baliramsingh has seen many stories of violent home invasions. With her home equipped with security features, including a surveillance camera system, burglar proofing and a remote control gate, she did not fear falling prey to burglars. However, the bandits jumped over the back wall of her home and attempted to pry open the burglar-proof from her laundry room. When that failed, they picked a lock at the back and entered. She believes they spent over two hours in her house, even using her toilet. The bandits also removed miniature murtis from their resting place, perfume and some clothes but left them behind.
She recalled one bandit asking for the “Chinee man”, remembering that she previously rented an apartment on the compound to a Chinese national for three-and-a-half years. However, he returned to China. She believes the burglars knew details about her and her home. She said a lot of men worked around her house last year.
Baliramsingh feels crime is getting worse and with the trauma she suffered, her children believe it is time to leave.
“I plan to leave this country. I called my daughter in the States, and she cried and told me, ‘Mommy, I am sending a ticket for you to come right away’.”
Baliramsingh told Sherry that she could not leave the house unattended.
“They say ‘forget all the building, think about your life and come up here’. A little bit again, the man (would have) killed me.”
