Windward bandits displaying potential for murder

by Christina Smith

“They took two big knives from the kitchen with the longest blades and I could not find them. I spoke to a police officer friend of mine and he said ‘they came to kill you’, so I’m glad my [bedroom] door was locked.”

This was the bone-chilling account made by a victim of a recent housebreaking in Biabou. Just one of the many occurring in communities in South and South Central Windward communities.

At least six homes have been burglarized within the last several weeks with residents believing that the total number could be as high as three times that.

Accounts from residents reveal that the gang of bandits, assumed to be three people with a female involved, are displaying a potential for violence that has left some unsettled.

Biabou, Cedars, North Union, New Grounds- different communities but the stories are all the same. Householders awake in the morning, past their usual time to find items in their homes missing and out of place. Those who spoke to SEARCHLIGHT report not hearing anything out of the ordinary during the night but in the morning they feel disoriented.

“I am usually up around six [a.m] but that morning I slept til around nine [a.m]. I remember when I woke up I felt a bit groggy and nauseous,” the victim of a Biabou house burglary told SEARCHLIGHT.

A young mother in New Grounds echoed the same statement verbatim during an interview with SEARCHLIGHT, explaining that she and her child fell asleep in the living room, the same area where the burglars entered, and were at no time alerted to the presence of strangers in the home.

“I would usually wake up minutes to five to get to work but this time I woke up at almost six. I felt very tired,” the mother told SEARCHLIGHT.

She said they got so close to members of the family that one robber removed a silk head tie from her daughter’s head- a move she speculated may have been an attempt to conceal their identity as they made good their escape from the community.

“They removed it from her head while she was sleeping in the living room. The fact that they took the scarf from her head, that was really scary. I don’t know why they would do that. They probably wanted to disguise themselves.”

In a New Grounds burglary, the robbers made off with a mobile phone, a handbag and one of the children’s school bags which was later found with all the books and stationery thrown in bushes close to the home.

At the Biabou location, a cell phone charger, CD player, cash, clothes and also vintage shoes valued at over EC$2,000 were taken. The robbers also made off with rum and sweetened beverages from the refrigerator. The residents speculate that the knives missing from the Biabou kitchen were taken so the robbers could arm themselves during the encounter.

At both homes, entry into the premises were almost identical; the robbers removed window screens and climbed in. It was a kitchen window which was used to access the downstairs section of the Biabou home, and a connecting door allowed the robbers to also access the upstairs floor.

At all of the six burglaries confirmed by SEARCHLIGHT, the homes were not outfitted with burglar bars, electronic security alert systems or guard dogs.

Residents speculate the thieves are scoping out homes where they believe the residents could be middle to upper income status.

One of the victims at the Biabou location is a visitor to the country and believes this may be the reason why the home was targetted.