Armed Robbers Hit Deaf and Dumb Home

Armed robbers have struck the Home for the Orphans and Abandoned Deaf Children in Chocolate City, Gardnersville, taking away several items, including L$1,500 and US$400 intended for the kids’ feeding and teachers’ stipend.

The Assistant Director of the home Mother Comfort Doe, narrated that by 2 A.M. on Monday, about 10 able-bodied men burst the window of the school building, using acid water, adding that one of them had arm, while the others were carrying cutlasses and knives.

She said besides the cash stolen, the robbers also took along one motor bike, three cottons of copybooks, five bags of rice and four bags of beans. She furthered that the robbers deployed men throughout the compound to prevent community residents from intervening, and flogged a private security personnel on guard after he tried to stop them.

“So far, only I and few of my children could understand what they were saying because the rest of the children could not say a word due to their inability to talk or hear. When the robbers entered, I told them to just take whatever they wanted, and right away they started to take the children’s food and the little money I had for the balance feeding and the teachers’ stipend, including a bag of uniforms for the kids,” she lamented.

Residents in the area told the New Dawn that the robbers went to other communities that same night after they left the institution.  According to them, the criminals fired several bullets after some neighbors resisted, but there was no casualty.

The Chocolate City residents said the relocation of the Supermarket police depot to Chicken Soup Factory is one of the contributing factors for the increase in armed robbery in the area.

Mother Doe said the incident has caused a serious setback to the home, noting that while she and the director of the institution Terrence Doe, including other partners were doing everything to meet the needs of the abandoned deaf and dumb children, heartless criminals want the children to suffer.

She called on the government to put in place security measures to protect peaceful citizens. Mother Doe has meanwhile sent out an SOS to donors and well meaning Liberians for support to the home.