BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – POLICE yesterday (Feb. 20) arrested and charged Vedel Browne for allegedly robbing US Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer while he was on vacation in Nevis.
This information was gleaned from a US Wall Street Journal article headlined “Suspect in Robbery of Breyer Is Arrested” and also from an article published by CNN, headlined “Police charge man in machete robbery of Supreme Court Justice Breyer”.
SKNVibes was reliably informed that the 28-year-old Browne, on seeing the publication of his photo in the local media as “a person of interest”, turned himself in Sunday (Feb. 19) to the authorities at the Basseterre Police Station.
Numerous attempts were made this morning to get information from the police to substantiate the report on Browne’s arrest and charge, but they were all frustratingly futile.
CNN indicated that they had spoken to the Police Press and Public Relations Officer, Sergeant Stephen Hector, who told the media house that “the offense is a felony and carries a maximum sentence of 20 years upon conviction”.
The media house also reported that “law enforcement learned of his identity from informants, but it is unclear why Browne was suspected for investigation”.
It reported too that “a local law enforcement official had said the evidence indicated the incident was ‘a crime of opportunity’ and that police have seen nothing so far to indicate Breyer was targeted for robbery”.
According to the Wall Street Journal, “Local police on Monday charged Vedel Browne, 28 years old, with the robbery at the justice's home on the island of Nevis, police spokesman Sgt. Cledwyn Jefers said.”
CNN also quoted the Sgt. As saying, “He saw that we were looking for him.”
“The suspect has contacted an attorney, Henry Browne of St. Kitts, police said. The two aren’t related. Attempts to reach the attorney weren’t successful,” CNN wrote in the article.
On Friday, last, police issued a wanted bulletin for Browne of Webbes Ground in Gingerland and, according to SGT 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”.
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 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 reportedly taken from the victim was $1 000; however, the Wall Street Journal claims that it was $1 200.
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.
