Calls on police to publicly apologise
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – A Newtown resident, who was arrested, charged and remanded at Her Majesty’s Prison for a crime he did not commit, wants the police to publicly apologise and to have his name cleared so as to salvage his fine character.
The man, Peter Oke, who was born in Nigeria but is a citizen of St. Kitts and Nevis by descent, was accused of being one of two armed men who carried out a daring daylight robbery at RAM’S Wholesale Department in Bird on Friday, May 22, 2015.
At about 3:50 p.m. on the day in question, two armed bandits had entered RAN’S Bird Rock premises pretending to be members of the Christian-based religious movement, Jehovah Witness.
One of them, who was position on the verandah handing out religious flyers to customers, attacked the business establishment’s manager, robbed him of an undisclosed sum of money and inflicted a wound to his head during the process.
Following the daring robbery, both men had made good their escape but the entire incident was caught on camera – CCTV.
In an efforts to bring the robbers to justice, management of the business establishment had offered an ES$10 000 reward for information leading to their arrest and conviction.
However, one week after the robbery, police had arrested Oke and charged him with robbery.
Information reaching SKNVibes at that time, stated that a member of the public claimed to have recognised Oke from the footage provided by management of RAM’S Group of Companies, which had gone viral.
He was seen on that Friday (May 29) in the Independence Square and the person who claimed to have recognised him immediately informed the Basseterre Police Station, from where members of the Criminal Investigation Department swooped down on the alleged suspect and apprehended him.
He was charged on the same day and later remanded to Her Majesty’s Prison (HMP).
However, in a twist of fate, Oke was able to prove his innocence when he appeared in court last May and was acquitted.
In a recent interview with SKN Newsline, Oke recounted his more than two-year ordeal.
“They accused me of the robbery of 2015; this was seven days after the robbery had occurred. I wasn’t aware of it, I never heard of it because I never listened to local news. At the CID the live video of the incident was played, because it was captured on CCTV, and the officers at CID, led then by Superintendent Charles Smithen, informed me and said that they know that it was not me. That could not have been me because the video did not identify anybody and, obviously, the disparity in the size and stature compared to me and whoever it was on the video. But they still got ahead and charged me for it.”
Oke told the media house that upon his arrest, he subsequently lost his job at a security agency, was forced to discontinue a study programme he was pursuing as a Law and Sociology student in St. Kitts, and was on remand for two years at HMP.
He also said that when his matter finally came up in court, it was quickly dismissed because the police failed to produce the CCTV footage as evidence.
“In court, they did an initial inquiry on the matter, and during the course of the inquiry the virtual complainant informed the Police Prosecutor that I am not the person that carried out the robbery. It could not have been me. I am not the one that robbed him because there was a video and he can see from my physical person that I was not the one...but the matter was still carried on.
“It was requested for a jury trial; the judge requested for it, the defence team requested for it, but the police investigator in charge of this who tried to frame me, by name 443 Corporal Hyacinth Taylor, refused to make the video available to the court. I was subsequently found innocent of the matter, I was discharged and acquitted.”
Oke explained that since his acquittal and subsequent release from prison in May he has been struggling to find a job; a situation that has tarnished his reputation, for which he blames the police.
During the interview, he expressed to SKN Newsline the two years of suffering he endured.
“It was a terrible experience because of the hot conditions of prison, the pain, the suffering, the mental trauma, the damage to reputation and, obviously, the fact that I had not done anything that warranted me being in prison. And the police officers in particular that charged me for this, they were aware that I had not done anything. The evidence that was available was contrary to it, but they still pursued to charge me and commence prosecution against me and have me remanded in prison custody. And I was there for two years because they kept putting off the case.”
Peter Oke categorically stated that he wants the police to issue a public apology and a retraction to clear his name, and that his lawyers have advised that he should seek financial compensation for his wrongful arrest and two-year incarceration.
