A sobering thirteen crimes were reported for the period August 5 to 12, up from seven two weeks ago. The sharp increase in reported criminal activities resulted in ten arrests for the period.

L-R: Sergeant Randolph Yearwood, Superintendent Rudolph Proctor, Sergeant Marva Brooks and Inspector Paul Sinclair

Criminal activities included three burglaries in Brimegin, South Hill, and Blowing Point where items stolen included two gold chains and four gold rings, one bicycle, one Ipod, and $750 US in cash. Sergeant Randolph Yearwood of the Criminal Investigation Department disclosed that one Black berry phone, $5512 US in cash, $1165 EC in cash and one Savings Account bank book were nabbed in the Blowing Point burglary where the victim was a local businessperson. He said police were undertaking vigorous investigation into all these burglaries. There were also two attempted burglaries, one at Welches and the other at West End.

Four cases of theft were reported for the week. They occurred at North Side, West End, South Hill, and Sandy Ground. Items stolen were one cellular phone and keys, an unknown amount of tiles, one bicycle, and one white cooler.

There was one case of arson at Her Majesty’s Prison and one case of forgery. There was also one of attempted fraud occurring at West End and one wounding at Sandy Ground.

Five males were arrested to prevent a breach of the peace and two males were arrested for assaulting two police officers in the execution of their duties. Officers of the Royal Anguilla Police Force held one male for being armed with an offensive weapon while another male was taken in for assault occasioning actual bodily harm. Police arrested one male for obstructing a Police Officer in the execution of his duties.

Six Traffic Accidents, Two Serious

Six traffic accidents were reported for the week, two of which were serious. Sergeant Marva Brooks of the Traffic Department said seven tickets were issued during the week for minor offences. She also detailed one of the serious accidents which almost 3 pm on Tuesday:

“One of the accidents occurred yesterday the 11th in Long Road. The accident involved motor pickup P5096 and that was driven by Vidal Percival of Roaches Hill and motor pickup C165 that was driven by a Kidel Bowen, a Vincencian national residing at North Valley. Vidal Percival…had three passengers on board his truck. Kidel Bowen, the loan person in his vehicle, was taken to the hospital and said to be in critical condition…and he was flown out to Barbados…”

Sergeant Brooks revealed that Bowen had serious injuries to his legs. She said all the other victims of the accident went to the hospital but were subsequently discharged. She added that investigations into the accident were continuing.

At the time of the accident, Bowen’s vehicle was reportedly traveling on the main road from East to West while Percival’s truck was coming onto the main road from a junction on the South side of the main road.

Brooks informed that written and practical driving tests, which were postponed during the Summer Festival, will be resumed on August 17 and 18. She took the opportunity to appeal to all motorists who were driving unlicensed vehicles to have their vehicles licensed. She warned that, under the traffic act, police have the authority to impound unlicensed vehicles and stated that if persons were found driving unlicensed vehicles they will be impounded. Brooks stated that police would be on the road checking traffic and cracking down on these offenders.

The Police Sergeant extended her warning to cyclists and motorcyclists who “ride abreast on the road.” She appealed to them to desist from “this dangerous practice” and exercise more caution when using the roads. She pointed out that the dangerous practice was especially prevalent on Saturday mornings. She said anyone found in contravention of the traffic laws would be prosecuted.

Carnival Postmortem

Last Lap this year “went very well” according to Head of the Drugs and Firearms Task Force Inspector Paul Sinclair. None-the-less, a man was arrested for carrying what police described as a large pair of scissors almost at the end of Last Lap. He was taken before the magistrate and given 40 days in jail after pleading guilty.

Sinclair stated that the vigilance of the Royal Anguilla Police Force will go way beyond carnival: “We won’t go into hibernation, we won’t be sleeping. We will, with vigor, be pursuing all persons involved in crime and disorder. And the warning is that if you are prepared to come out on the streets carrying such weapons then be prepared to pay the price…” He said the carrying of weapons is a very serious offence.

The inspector stated that the carnival operation, which he hinted at in earlier press reports, paid off. The maneuver involved the use of cameras at the Carnival Village, on the streets and on the trucks of bands playing on the streets. It also included nearly 30 Security Guards including a K-9 Unit.

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