Contradictory statements by both parties
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE St. Kitts and Nevis Defence Force (SKNDF) yesterday morning (Feb. 14) held a press conference at Camp Springfield and declared that soldiers had shot Kenrick ‘Ratty’ Rogers after they were fired upon by two men who ran out of a shack in the mountain overlooking Sandy Point.
Addressing members of the local media, Public Affairs Officer Captain Kayode Sutton said that a joint operation was conducted in the Sandy Point area by members of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force and the SKNDF on Saturday, February 12, 2011.
He noted that the operation took a multi-dimensional approach in which members of both forces executed warrants and searched a number of properties of interest while soldiers “conducted reconnaissance operations in the mountains above Sandy Point”.
Sutton said the aim of the operation was to search for stolen goods, firearms, ammunition, wanted persons, drugs and other items of substantial evidential value to aid ongoing investigations by the police into a series of armed robberies that took place in the Sandy Point area in recent weeks.
“While the police were conducting house searches in the urban areas of Sandy Point, soldiers were conducting reconnaissance and maintaining observation posts in the mountain overlooking the town. Soldiers at one observation post noticed a number of individuals hustling from Sandy Point making their way northwards up the mountain.
“These individuals were dressed in dark clothes with pulled-down knitted headwear and carrying what appeared to be backpacks. The soldiers monitored their progress up the slope of the mountain; however they soon disappeared into the thick green foliage of the forest,” Sutton said.
The Public Affairs Officer added that while the soldiers were tactfully proceeding in search of the three men, they suddenly came across a shack and came under fire.
“They approached the shack with caution and heard conversation and rumbling sounds coming from within the makeshift structure. One of the individuals close to the entrance of the shack, identified by the clothes he was wearing as being one of the persons that was earlier seen exiting from the Sandy Point area towards the mountain, started to shout ‘army man coming’.
“Two individuals ran out of the shack and fired a number of shots in the direction of the soldiers. The soldiers returned fire in the direction from where the shots were fired. The escapees were pursued and one individual who ran was found lying on the ground with gunshot wounds to his legs. The soldiers searched him and a number of items of strong evidential value were found on his person and was later handed over to the police for processing. The SKNDF soldiers administered first aid to the injured man while a call was made to inform the police of the incidence and to request an ambulance.”
Sutton further said the soldiers conducted a thorough search of the area where the shots were fired at them but, “due to the undulating topographical layout and very thick overgrowth of plants, no spent cartridge was recovered”.
“In addition, Sutton continued, “a number of shacks were searched and items found in these shacks were given to the police. All shacks found that had no importance to the neighbouring area, such as for farming purposes, were set ablaze. A number of pieces of galvanised with appeared to be bullet holes in them were found in the area nailed to trees. It is believed that individuals of questionable characters might have used these sheets of galvanised for target practice.”
Captain Sutton further stated that a picture of Rogers wearing a bulletproof vest and a gun in his hand was found in one of the shacks.
When asked by the media if the soldiers had left Rogers to die as was stated by his relatives, Sutton denied the allegation and stressed that the soldiers had administered first aid and had called the police at the Sandy Point Police Station and requested an ambulance.
“When we are confronted with situations, like on Saturday, necessary force and only necessary force is used, Soldiers are trained to use just necessary force to subdue a situation. It makes no sense for any soldier or any police officer to see a man lying down on the ground with gunshot wounds to the leg; he is not a threat to the policeman or soldier at the time. It makes no sense to shoot him at point blank range as Mr. Rogers claimed.
“First aid was administered, right there, to control the bleeding because soldiers are trained to administer first aid, and request was made for ambulance to go over and assist the man and take him to the hospital. That is all I know…that is the fact and it is what I am giving.”
He also said that there was no significant activity that indicated farming or the rearing of animals was done within the area where the incident took place.
In an effort to ascertain what relatives of the wounded man and Captain Sutton said, SKNVibes went to the area where the incident took place and visited Rogers at the hospital and also his mother in Crab Hill, Sandy Point.
This publication found that the incident took place at the foot of Mount Liamuiga, approximately two miles from the town. While there, a number of pictures were taken of the area, including two shacks that were burnt and the spot where Rogers was shot.
He was shot at about 20 metres from the shack next to a small fruit tree that is surrounded by a number of pineapple plants, and the shack was positioned at approximately 45 metres from a pen that houses a large amount of sheep with scattered banana and plantain trees surrounding it.
The second shack was situated at about 300 metres further north of the first one, with two ghauts on the eastern and western side of it.
While at his mother’s home, she displayed a blood-stained, foul-smelling blue jeans and a red T-shirt which she claimed Rogers was wearing at the time he was shot, which is contrary to the garments that Captain Sutton claimed the three individuals were wearing. On examination of the jeans, this media house observed that both of its legs were cut, and Rogers’ mother explained that the cutting took place at the JNF Hospital in order to treat his wounds.
Three holes, presumed to have been made by bullets, were also seen on the lower part of the jeans as well as pieces of rotting flesh.
At the hospital, Rogers, for the first time, was able to fluently speak to SKNVibes and explain what transpired on that Saturday morning. He told this publication that he was shot three times on his shins; twice on the left and once on the right.
Rogers claimed that he was next to a fruit tree, a short distance from a shack that was close to the sheep’s pen when he heard rustling sounds in the tall grasses.
“I heard the rustling sounds and I thought that it might have been somebody coming to steal the sheep and might have harmed me in the process. So I hid in the grass, and after not hearing the sound anymore I got up and there were a number of soldiers in front of me with big guns. One of them shouted ‘get down’, and as I was about to comply he shot me once on the left shin. He then fired another shot and hit me on the same foot. I fell to the ground and he shot me again, but this time on the right shin.
“I asked them why they shot me and one of them came over me, pointed the gun and said, ‘Hush yoh @##+>x mouth, yoh want a finish dis thing on yoh?’ he then kicked me in my chest and they dragged me over some nearby pineapple plants. If you check my hands you will see the marks made by the pineapple plants when they dragged me.
“One of them then asked me if I have a cell phone and I told him no. He then took the key to my mother’s home. I asked them to call the ambulance to take me to the hospital and again they used a lot of bad words and then left me lying on the ground bleeding. After a few minutes, I took out my cell phone and called a friend and told him what happened. Suddenly one of the soldiers returned and said, ‘So yoh gat a cell phone and yoh lie to we’. He then took away the cell phone and left.”
Rogers said after lying on the ground writhing in pain for more than an hour, he heard the sound of a vehicle.
“I had given up hope of being alive because I had lost a lot of blood. But suddenly I heard the sound of a vehicle and shortly after I saw some people coming with the same soldiers in my direction. The attendant on the ambulance treated my wounds for some time and then they placed me on a stretcher and took me to the hospital,” Rogers said.
Asked if the soldiers had rendered first aid unto him and if it were them who had summoned the ambulance, Rogers said, “No! They only thing they did is drag and kick me after shooting me. They didn’t render any first aid. And it can’t be the soldiers who called for the ambulance…it was the friend that I called and he told me so when he visited me. If somebody shot you, they beat you and know that you can bleed to death, do you believe they would call anybody so that you would speak about their atrocity?
Rogers also claimed that up to the end of visiting hours at the hospital yesterday, no member of the police force had taken a statement from him concerning the incident.
SKNVibes also found out that the ambulance had reached Rogers at approximately 7:30 a.m. and arrived at the hospital sometime before 9:00 a.m., which is contrary to the time (10:00 a.m.) his family members claimed it took to reach him at the scene of the incident.
On Saturday (Feb. 12), Kenrick ‘Ratty’ Rogers was shot by a member(s) of the SKNDF on the foot of Mount Liamuiga in Sandy Point.
Rogers claimed that he had left his mother’s home early that morning to take care of his friend’s sheep and the soldiers shot him without reason or cause. He claimed that he was not in possession of any firearm, illegal drugs or substance and is seeking justice for being an “innocent victim of a wicked system”.
