CHARLESTOWN, Nevis – The Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force has issued a wanted bulletin for a Gingerland man suspected to have been involved in the robbery of US Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.
The wanted man was identified as Vedel K Browne of Webbes Ground in Gingerland.
According to Police Press and Public Relations Officer Sergeant Stephen Hector, police had “identified and is actively seeking a person of interest [Browne] for questioning with the reported incident which occurred at Justice Breyer’s home in Golden Rock, Nevis on Thursday, February 9, 2012”.
The bulletin noted that Browne is a gardener by profession and is 5’ 11’’ tall.
“If you have any information about the whereabouts of the subject or that may be of assistance in this case, please contact Sgt. Alonzo Carty of the Nevis CID at 469-5391,” the bulletin read.
It also stated that “Any person found assisting, comforting, receiving or otherwise relieving this person of interest will be prosecuted in accordance with the law. Investigations into this incident are ongoing. Further information will be provided as it becomes available”.
On the morning of February 10 when this media house contacted Assistant Commissioner of Police Robert Liburd, the Officer-in-Charge of the Nevis Division of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force, on the matter, he said that at about 10:20 p.m. on Thursday (Feb 9), a man armed with a black machete and wearing a black shirt, black pants, black shoes and black mask entered the home and demanded money from the judge.
ACP Liburd also said that on receipt of the money, the bandit immediately fled the scene and that no one was injured during the robbery. But he neither disclosed the victim’s identity nor his country of origin, as well as how much money the bandit took from him.
The incident had however made headlines on a number of international media houses, including BBC, CNN and Bloomberg, and the hidden information was revealed which led many people to conclude that there might have been a gag order in the local police force at that time on this very sensitive matter.
The amount of money taken from the victim was $1 000.
It was also the international media outlets that informed the nation that agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) were on Nevis assisting local police with their investigations.
The 73-year-old Justice Breyer had been visiting Nevis for over the past 18 years and owns a vacation home at Golden Rock in which he, his wife, Dr. Joanna Breyer, a renowned pediatric psychologist, and two guests were when the robbery occurred.
Justice Breyer and his wife have since returned to the US.
