Thursday, October 15, 2015. BMG: A brazen early morning home invasion in a village of the Cayo District has left a foreign church pastor and his family’s lives in shambles after their belongings were stolen and a 15-year-old female member was brutally raped by one of the assailants before he and his accomplice escaped in the pastor’s vehicle.
The incident occurred around 7:00 a.m. while the pastor and his assistant were working in the yard and were approached by two armed men wearing masks, who were hiding in nearby bushes. They were then tied up and taken into the house where they saw that the pastor’s wife and daughter had already been tied up by the assailants as well.
An account of the incident given by the family states that one of the robbers then proceeded to search the entire house, stealing valuables such as television sets, laptop computers, cellphones, jewelry and cash before taking the family to a second house in the yard where they took some tools. Just when the family thought the ordeal was over, one of the men took the 15-year-old to a separate room and raped her so viciously that she had to undergo surgery after the incident and the men then fled in the family’s vehicle.
The pastor’s assistant was able to untie himself and set the family free, after which they discovered that approximately $8,000 in cash and items was stolen, including money for their church. The family said that this was not the first time their home had been burglarized, and it was in fact the fourth time but never had they been a part of the harrowing incidents until now.
What was most shocking about this incident though, was a statement made to the family by the thieves before they fled, which was that they were doing this to send a message to Prime Minister Dean Barrow that he needs to stop fixing roads because they can’t eat roads; they want to be given money for land.
So far only the vehicle has been recovered by police and investigations continue.