On Tuesday November 27, 2007 the following matters were heard at District C Magistrate Court presided over by Magistrate Yasmine Clarke.
Dwight ‘Barber’ Richards of Stoney Grove appeared before the court to answer a charge of larceny. The charge was brought against him as a result of a report made at the Charlestown Police Station. The report alleged that on Friday June 22, 2007 Richards stole one Daewoo 20” television, one VCR, two tapes and one thousand dollars, ($1000.00) the property of Carlon Thomas, and one pair of Timberland shoes, seven hundred ($700.00) EC dollars, five hundred ($500.00) US dollars and 1000 guilders, the property of Noel Batson.
The items were allegedly stolen from their house at Ramsbury. Dr Henry Browne represented the defendant who pleaded not guilty to the charges. The circumstances of the case are that the two virtual complaints left their house early in the morning. Batson returned home and noticed that the house was ransacked and some of his property missing. He called Thomas and told what had happen. Thomas left his workplace and went home.
On his was to his house, he saw Barber whom he knew by face but not by name, with another young man. He noticed Barber had a television set in a black plastic bag and the other man also had a black garbage bag and he noticed the impression of boots in the bag.
He shouted, “Hello, them things you all have are mine.”
Barbar looked directly at him and continued very quickly on his way. He went home put down a bag he had and went back to look for them but he did not find them. On the following day Sergeant Carty saw the defendant in a pair of red Timberland shoes. He stopped the defendant and spoke to him.
When he was questioned about the shoes he replied, “Carty, ah buy them.” The boots were shown to Batson and he identified them as his own. The prosecution presented this evidence as their case. The defence sought to show that the defendant was not at Ramsbury at the time of the incident, the virtual complaint did not see the defendant and the shoes presented as evidence by the prosecution was not that taken from the defendant. This defence failed and the defendant was sentence to three (3) years hard labour.
Inez Brookes of Farms Estate was charged with driving without due care and attention, driving without insurance and driving without a valid and un-expired drivers licence. The charges were brought against the defendant after she was involved in a traffic accident at Upper Stoney Grove.
The defendant at that time was driving motorcar P4521. She was fined $500.00 for driving without due care and attention, $400.00 for driving without insurance. Both fines must be paid in one month or she must serve one month in prison. She was cautioned on the charge of driving without a valid and expired drivers licence.
In an effort to rid the Federation of illegal drugs, the security forces conducted operations in the Bayfords Mountain and Ogee Ghaut area on Thursday November 22, 2007.
A total of four-thousand five hundred (4500) marijuana plants were uprooted. The plants ranged in height from seedlings to 10 feet and carry a street value of seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000).
The security forces also destroyed two large Hammond stills in the Ogee Ghaut area. All items and equipment that relate to the stills were destroyed and the Hammond itself was disposed of.
No one was arrested in connection with these find but investigations are ongoing.
The police are investigating a break-in that occurred between 9 p.m on Wednesday November 21, 2007 and 8 a.m on Thursday November 22, 2007 at the World of Life New Testament Church at Central Street.
Investigations have revealed that the building was broken into and some electronic equipment was stolen, including one amplifier, one flat screen Dell desktop computer, one graphic equalizer, one CD recorder and one cross-over.
Investigations are ongoing.
On Monday November 26, 2007, Police arrested and charged a 16-year-old juvenile from the Basseterre area for the offence of robbery. The offence occurred on November 23, 2007 at Shadwell Housing. The juvenile was also arrested and charged for the offence of housebreaking and larceny committed on November 22, 2007 at Malone Avenue.
Twenty-seven-year-old Francois Rawlins of Basseterre was arrested and charged for the Offence of Housing Breaking and Larceny. The offence was committed on November 22, 2007 at Malone Avenue.
In the November 23 to 29 issue of the Leeward Times newspaper, the headline read, Cop Accused of Incest. The High Command of the Royal St. Christopher-Nevis Police Force is very disturbed about this headline as it is false, misleading and unfairly brings the reputation of the organization into disrepute, as no police officer is being accused of or charged with incest.
The police force accepts criticisms when they are justified, and always strive to maintain the highest standards of professionalism among its members. We therefore urge media houses to be more responsible in their reporting and verify their information to avoid the kind of damage that this kind of misinformation can cause.
We continue to value the service that the media provide to the police and community and hope to maintain this harmonious relationship.
