BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – VINCENT ‘SAGA’ JARVIS, the man who was shot in his face during a robbery at the Dollar Stretcher Supermarket in Bourkes, Sandy Point, is slowly recovering from the near-death incident but still hospitalised.
SKNVibes visited the 61-year-old passenger bus driver yesterday (Jan. 28) at the JNF Hospital and learned that were it not for his immediate evasive action, he would have been shot in the head.
Jarvis said that on January, 22, 2011 he went into the supermarket sometime after 8:30 p.m. to purchase some items and shortly thereafter two masked, armed men, dressed in long overcoats and bulletproof vests entered and told the customers lie on the floor and not to move.
“I was by the bread stall speaking to a female villager at the time the two men entered the supermarket. They shouted that everybody should lie on the ground and do not move. I thought it was a joke because no one had expected people to come and rob the supermarket, knowing that we live harmoniously in Sandy Point. So, I continued talking with my friend. However, one of them came up to me and pointed a big gun very close to my head and pulled the trigger. I instinctively moved my head to the left and was shot on the right side of my face.”
Jarvis said he did not know what transpired after he was shot, but his wife claimed that after she got the news of his demise she entered the premises and found him lying in a pool of blood on the floor near the bread stall.
A source close to the family, who was also at the hospital at the time of this media house’s visit, said she is appalled at the slow pace in which the police are conducting their investigations into the incident.
“I just can’t understand what the police are doing. Last year when the 17 tourists were robbed by Brimstone Hill, in record time they picked up many young men from Sandy Point and charged five of them. And as recent as last week they picked up another young man for the same crime and had him locked up at the police station. Is it because Saga is a local that’s why the police do not have any suspect. Not one of those tourists was injured, yet police could have been seen all over Sandy Point searching homes, questioning everybody and arresting those young men.
“I’m not saying that it was not a national issue, because we all know that the country’s economic survival is heavily dependent on the tourism industry. But Saga is not a dog or any wild animal…he’s a human being and a national of St. Kitts. This leaves me to conclude that our lives do not worth a dime when compared with foreigners from North America and Europe. I am therefore calling on Sam Condor, the Minister of National Security, to speak out on this incident and urge the police to leave no stone unturned in their hunt for the criminals, just as how he spoke with such passion and commitment when the tourists were robbed.”
Another source, this time a male, echoed the female’s sentiments and blamed the police for not capturing the two bandits because of what he termed “incompetence and lack of foresight”.
“I blame the police because of their incompetence. Logically speaking, if thieves are in your home and the police are informed but they take more than an hour to get there, do you believe the thieves would wait on them knowing that their presence was known? It is the same thing that happened at the supermarket?
“Firstly, many of us heard when the first shot was fired and the criminals had been in the supermarket for about 10 minutes before escaping. I know that more than four persons had called the police at Sandy Point Police Station to inform them what happened, but they took a very long time to get to the scene because Sandy Point Police Station does not have a vehicle. Therefore, I would like to know what taxpayers’ money are used for?
“Secondly, an officer who lives in Sandy Point turned up and confronted the criminals but they had better firepower. He even tried to get them when they were running up Bourkes Main Road towards the mountain but, again, they returned fire and he had to protect himself. That was indeed a heroic deed by the officer, but what about the others? Why when a large contingent of them arrived at the scene they didn’t try searching the general area including the mountains? Why weren’t roadblocks set up? There is only one road on which the criminals could have escaped if they were driving, and the roadblocks could have been east and west of the area where the incident took place. This is what I call gross incompetence and a lack of foresight by members of an institution sworn to serve and protect.”
SKNVibes had contacted the police for an update on the incident and was told that no one is in custody but investigations are ongoing.
At about 8:45 p.m. on Saturday, January 22, 2011, two masked, armed bandits robbed the Dollar Stretcher Supermarket in Bourkes, Sandy Point of an undisclosed sum of money, shot Jarvis in his face during the process and fled the scene running and shooting indiscriminatingly along Bourkes Main Road.
