BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THREE of the eight men charged with the November 14, 2010 robbery of 17 cruise ship tourists were yesterday (Sept. 5) set free following a Preliminary Inquiry (PI) held at the Basseterre Magistrate’s Court.
The three men are Devon ‘X-Man’ Hodge of The Alley, Adminston ‘LB’ Lewis of Crab Hill and Grenville ‘Rogie’ Rogers of Romney Ground, all of Sandy Point.
SKNVibes learnt that the three men appeared in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday along with Delvin ‘Sobie’ Francis of St. Paul’s; George ‘Naddy’ Welsh of Fig Tree, Sandy Point; Elroy ‘Stanny’ Williams of Crab Hill, Sandy Point; Curtis Long of Downing Street, Sandy Point; and Junior ‘Cue’ Sobratie of Sandy Point. And while there was no evidence tying them to the robbery, the others were remanded to Her Majesty’s Prison pending trial at the Basseterre High Court.
On Sunday, November 14, 2010, while 17 cruise ship tourists (including a baby) were aboard a coaster tour bus on their way to visit the Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park, a large branch from a tree was placed across the access road in the vicinity of Lime Kiln to impede the smooth flow of traffic.
The driver exited the tour bus to remove the branch, but while doing so two armed, masked men approached him and he ran from that area to a nearby gas station, from where he notified the police of the incident.
While he was away from the scene, the gunmen robbed the tourists of an undisclosed sum of money, cellular phones, jewellery and other personal items.
This incident had made headline news in the international media and had resulted in the cancellation of two cruise ships’ calls to Port St. Kitts on November 16 and 17, 2010.
Shortly after the incident, Hodge, Rogers and Sobratie were arrested and subsequently charged with armed robbery on November 18, 2010.
Williams, who was arrested on the same day with the trio, was also charged with armed robbery on the following day along with the fifth suspect, Lewis.
On Thursday, February 3, 2011, police arrested and charged Welsh and Francis for their alleged involvement in the armed robbery.
And after evading a police manhunt for a number of months, the eight suspect, Curtis Long, was captured in a house in Sandy Point on Wednesday, August 3, 2011.
