Vehicles of two members of CDC broken into!

A young man of Vermont was yesterday sentenced to six months in jail for breaking the window of a vehicle owned by the chairperson of the Beauty Shows Committee (BSC) of the Carnival Development Corporation (CDC).

Kemal Small appeared yesterday at the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court before magistrate {{more}}Carla James and pleaded guilty to the charge of damage to property owned by Cheryl Rodriguez.

According to the facts read out in court, on Thursday, May 7, at about 5:30 p.m., Rodriguez, the owner of an Infiniti SUV, parked her vehicle in the vincity of the Gibson Building Supplies at Victoria Park, to attend a meeting of the CDC. Rodriguez left her vehicle secured and on her return later that evening, discovered that one the windows of the vehicle had been broken.

The matter was reported to the police and investigations led to Small. He was taken into custody and gave the police a statement admitting to the offence.

However, Small will begin to serve the six-month sentence following completion of a nine month sentence he is currently serving for another offence.

Small’s troubles are far from over, however, as he is also charged with damaging the vehicle of the police representative on the CDC, Assistant Commissioner of Police Christopher Benjamin.

Small, however, pleaded not guilty to that charge, which police allege was committed on the same date and in the same vicinity as the break-in of Rodriguez’s vehicle. The matter pertaining to Benjamin’s vehicle will be heard on Tuesday, June 23.

Small also faces additional charges of vehicle break-ins and theft around the Victoria Park area, which will be heard later this month.

These charges come on the heels of a release from the Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force (RSVGPF) that the media reported incorrectly on the issue of vehicle break-ins in the vicinity of the Victoria Park over the weekend May 22 to 25.

The release, issued by the Public Relations Department of the RSVGPF on Tuesday, June 2, states: “The Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force (RSVGPF) would like to refute inaccurate reports published in the media here that seventeen (17) vehicle break-ins took place in the vicinity of Carnival City, Victoria Park, over the May 22nd to 25th, 2015, weekend. According to our records, there were no reports of vehicle break-ins over the weekend period in question.”

However, while police say that there were no reports of break-ins during that period, Akers resident Kevin James, who had his vehicle burglarized on Saturday, May 23, while attending a show at the Victoria Park, said police were waiting for him at the scene of the burglary on May 23, and he followed up with an official report to the Criminal Investigations Department of the RSVGPF on May 26. Police maintain that there is no record of James’ report.

At a press conference of the Carnival Development Corporation (CDC) on April 28, Benjamin spoke of safety being at the top of the police’s agenda and urged Vincentians to cooperate with the police fully in facilitating a successful Carnival.