Expats Beaten and Raped in Coronado Home Invasion

At 1am on December 28th, the home of Richard and Lise Burkart was broken into by 5 men. Richard was beaten with a crowbar. Lise was punched in the eyes and raped. The following recap of the incident is in Richard's own words:

"Five masked Panamanian bandits broke into our house as my wife and I were sleeping. They had a gun. They beat me repeatedly with a large crow bar while kicking me in the ribs and punching me in the face until I could not see. One whack to my head caused excessive bleeding and a minor concussion. My wife was beaten and raped. They stole all available cash, the plasma TV plus other valuables. They stole my car to transport their loot to a nearby town. We spent 3 hours in an emergency clinic getting x-rays and stitches, at no cost incidentally.

The good news: We are both very much alive and healing rapidly five days after the event without broken bones or other signs of physical/mental damage. Our expat and Panamanian support groups in Coronado were incredible and when news of our attack got out their visits and phone calls never stopped.

The bad news: This recent violent crime wave, if not stopped immediately, may become very destructive for Panama where tourism and baby boomer retirement have become important aspects of the greater economy. On a micro-scale, two American couples renting villas at our property immediately cut short their vacations and returned home. Apparently other expats have already decided or are seriously considering departure from Panama. This level of ruthlessness and violence is simply not acceptable. The apparent inability to identify and control the perpetrators by the local and national authorities is incomprehensible. Apparently there is a major interest by expats to obtain gun permits for home self-defense. As a Canadian, I find gun ownership highly objectionable but I guess I would rather go down shooting than sniveling as someone beats me unconscious with a crowbar.

An initial defense/offence strategy is now in the early stages. It is being formulated at several levels with expats as well as influential Panamanians to counter-attack this tsunami of fear.

My expectations are that we will be entirely successful in these efforts and that in one or two months these senseless vicious attacks will stop and become a relic of the past."