SEA pupil, parents beaten in home invasion

Sascha Wilson

A 12-year-old pupil, due to write the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) today, and his parents, were beaten and terrorised during a home invasion yesterday morning.

The intruders, seven men armed with cutlasses and a crowbar, hit the pupil several times about his face.

“They beat that boy like a man,” said the child’s father in an interview with Guardian Media as he was leaving their home to go to seek medical attention.

The 62-year-old hardware proprietor was also dealt several blows and was struck with the crowbar on the left side of his head.

During the hour-long ordeal, the suspects ransacked the three bedrooms and escaped with two television sets, $10,000, a laptop, tablet, jewelry, and two cellphones.

Photos posted on a relative’s Facebook shows the father bleeding from his left ear and his hands tied with tie traps.

Another photo shows a bruise on the child’s cheek. Their names were withheld to protect the identity of the child because he is a minor.

The boy was in a neck brace when Guardian Media visited their home in Palmyra.

His mother said their home is properly secured with burglar proofing, but the assailants pried open an upstairs window and gained entry into the house. They awoke to find seven intruders, clad in face mask and dark clothing, surrounding their bed.

She said, “They were saying it is a robbery. They kept shouting where is the money, where is the jewelry.”

She said they dragged them off the bed and began manhandling them. They took them separately to the other bedrooms where they ransacked everything, including the wardrobes and cupboards. While they were beating her son, she said he was crying and begging.

“I was saying a lot of prayers to just keep us safe, keep us safe. Let it end. That was my main mantra at that time,” she said.

She said they got infuriated because they were expecting to get more money.

Through all the threats, the violence, and derogatory remarks, she tried to remain calm for her family.

The hands and feet of the mother and son were tied with pieces of a plastic bag and a phone charger.

The robbers took her husband next door to the hardware, ransacked the office and broke cupboards and cash registers.

They were not sure whether anything was stolen from the hardware. She said they have received support from her son’s teachers and the principal, but she was not sure whether he would write the SEA exam today.

“It’s a narrow line trying to decide whether to do the SEA exam tomorrow or not. I personally would prefer he get it over with. One of the reasons being that I am saying by lunchtime tomorrow it will be all over hopefully, but his trauma is not going to be over.”

The family did not sleep at their home last night. No arrests were made up to late yesterday as Ste Madeleine police continue investigations.