Rogers said…“Truth will be revealed in court”
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – INFORMATION reaching SKNVibes states that Kenrick ‘Ratty’ Rogers was arrested and charged today (Feb.17) for shooting at a number of soldiers from the St. Kitts and Nevis Defence Force (SKNDF).
This information was confirmed by Ian Queeley, the Assistant Commissioner of Police with responsibility for Crime, who said Rogers was “arrested at 10:45 this morning on a warrant of shooting at with intent”.
This media house visited Rogers at the JNF Hospital and he said that an officer was there with a warrant this morning.
“This morning an officer came to my bedside and I thought that he was here to take a statement from me, but my assumption was wrong. Instead, he gave me a warrant and read from another one, stating that I was charged with three counts of shooting at with intent. He also told me that I did not have to respond to the charges.”
In response to what he intends to do, Rogers said, “God knows that I’m innocent of those trumped up charges, but the truth will be revealed in court.”
On Saturday, February 12, 2011, Rogers was shot by a member or members of the SKNDF at the foot of Mount Liamuiga in the vicinity of Farms, Sandy Point.
Rogers claimed that early that morning he had left his mother’s Crab Hill home to assist tend to his friend’s sheep, and while there he heard rustling sounds. He said that he concealed himself because he did not know if it were someone going to steal the sheep and may have harmed him in the process.
Rogers further claimed that after waiting for a few minutes and no longer hearing the rustling sounds, he emerged from his place of hiding and was suddenly confronted by some members of the SKNDF.
He said one of them ordered him to get down on the ground, and while complying he was shot twice in on the left shin and once on the right. He alleged that he asked them to call for an ambulance but he was instead stomped in the chest, dragged across some pineapple plants and left there to die.
Rogers also alleged that after the soldiers had disappeared from view he took out his cellular phone, called a friend and told him what occurred. He further alleged that that one of the soldiers had returned and took away his phone, prior to taking the key to his mother’s home.
Family members claimed that the person whom Rogers had informed about his demise had told a female friend of his of the incident, and it was she who had called for the ambulance.
Contrary to what Rogers and his family members told this publication, Captain Kayode Sutton, the SKNDF’s Public Affairs Officer, said Rogers was among a group of three men dressed in dark clothing with backpacks heading up to the mountain while soldiers and police officers were conducting a joint operation in Sandy Point.
Sutton claimed that soldiers at an observation post were observing the men’s movements but they had suddenly disappeared. The soldiers however stealthily combed the area and came upon a shack from within which they heard conversation and rumbling sounds.
“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.
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.
