BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – ARCHDEACON Valentine Hodge of the St. George’s Anglican Church on Cayon Street, Basseterre is calling on the armed man to return the money he stole yesterday morning (Dec. 30) from the house of worship.
Speaking this morning with SKNVibes, the Archdeacon revealed that the armed man stole EC$13,921,47 from the church’s office while the Treasurer was awaiting the arrival of a security agency to remove the money from the church.
“The church, which I represent, would really like to have the money back because that is very important for us. It is people’s hard earned money which they have given for the work of the church to the glory of God and, therefore, it is of paramount importance to us. So, having the money back is one of the things we would really like,” the Archdeacon said.
He noted that it was an unfortunate incident but was high in praise of the police.
“The fact that the money was stolen from the church is unfortunate. I understand that the police are working on the case and that they are making some progress, and that is salutary on behalf of the Commissioner, the CID and his staff. And it does give us some confidence in the Force and in the work they are doing in order to apprehend those involved in criminality in the Federation.”
Shortly after the robbery yesterday, police had issued a wanted bulletin for Akeem Walters of New Road, within which he was claimed to be a “person of interest’ in connection with the incident.
A manhunt was launched and in record time he was apprehended and taken into custody at the Basseterre Police Station.
Three other men were also in custody assisting police with their investigations.
A second release was disseminated by the police thanking all those who were involved in the investigation and the media for publishing the wanted bulletin.
“Commissioner Walwyn takes this opportunity to thank all involved in this aspect of the investigation, and encourage others to do the same. Special thanks must be given to the media fraternity for their immediate response to the request to publicise the press release from the Force's Press and Public Relations Office.”
When contacted earlier today, Police Press and Public Relations Officer Inspector Lyndon David declared that no one has yet been charged but investigations are ongoing.
This is the second time for the year that the Anglican Church has suffered losses.
According to WINN FM, in September, the kitchen of the Old Girls School on Victoria Road, a property of the Church, was burglarised and 175 pounds of salt fish stolen. The salt fish was to be used in the Church’s annual fundraising Independence Breakfast.
