BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – A vandal’s reign of terror during a power outage has left a Sandy Point businessman calling for increased police presence in the community, as a means of maintaining peace and dissuading would-be criminals from executing their sinister plans.
A blanket of darkness rested upon sections of St. Kitts, including Sandy Point, from sometime after 6:00 p.m. for an approximate two hours on Saturday, July 3. It is during this period that Damian Fraites, proprietor of Fraites Auto Supplies located at Cleverly Hill, Sandy Point, left his business secured and returned to find the front glass window of the building shattered.
“I left the building. Upon returning to the premises, one of the neighbours told me that I should go immediately and look at the glass which houses a little auto department which we have there. And in looking at it, I saw the glass was all broken up. When I got inside, there were three or four stones inside the building which clearly indicates acts of vandalism…I see this as an act of vandalism because, as far as I understand from the police, it’s a matter of three or four incidents that took place that same night,” Fraites said while speaking exclusively with SKNVibes.
The concerned businessman said he believed the perpetrator had used the power outage as his cover, knowing that their movements would not be easily detected. Because of this thought process birthed in the minds of would-be criminals, Fraites explained, there is need for a greater police presence in the communities.
“With the power outages, it gives these kinds of people more power to do these kinds of criminal acts, so one has to look at it more seriously whenever power is out. More police patrolling needs to be done and they need to do a lot more in the system to stop these kinds of acts from happening, because, as I said, they have a great impact on society and on the country.
“If these people who are doing these acts realise the presence of the police is not strong in these areas, of course it makes it stronger in doing these kinds of acts. Stronger police presence is needed. The writing is there on the wall…it is needed.”
Sergeant Diana Mills of the Sandy Point Police Station spoke exclusively with SKNVibes about the matter and indicated that it is currently under investigation and that malicious intent is suspected.
She informed that the individual suspected of committing the Fraites Auto Supplies incident also perpetrated two other stone-throwing incidents, one of which took place at the home of one of Fraites associates, Clifton Warner.
“Malicious intent is definitely suspected because of the two persons who were attacked there, Damian and Clifton. The person we are suspecting, we know that there has been some conflict between those two persons and that person,” Mills said.
The officer said she understands the community members’ concern about the need for greater police presence, adding that “sometimes it is difficult with the different functions that keep coming up that the police have to man”. She however assured that “we are looking at all those things and seeing what else could be put in place to assist”.
Fraites estimates the damage to his property to be between EC$500 and EC$900 and the impact that crime has on his business, the community and the country to be far greater.
