BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – This incident that made headline news in the international media and had resulted in the cancellation of two cruise ship calls to Port St. Kitts on November 16 and 17, 2010, was finally brought up at the Basseterre High Court.
Five men, Elroy ‘Stanny’ Williams, Junior ‘Q’ Sobraitie, Curtis Long, Delvin Francis and George Welsh appeared before His Lordship Justice Errol Thomas today (Tues, Jan 17) when the charges were read to them. They pleaded not guilty to all.
According to reports the incident occurred on Sunday, November 14, while 17 tourists who disembarked a cruise ship were aboard a coaster tour bus on their way to visit the Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park.
At the opening of the January Criminal Assizes the men were arraigned as the charges were read before them.
Williams, Sobraitie and Long were charged with the first count of robbery of a watch from Kimberly Caltraida; those three men also face a second count of robbery which is that of Phyllis Caltraida of a watch and wedding rings.
Williams, Sobraitie and Long face a third count of robbery where they are charged with robbing Kenneth Mcquidie of US$150, a camera and a gold watch; the said three men also face a fourth count of robbery of a Citizen watch from Jane Mcquidie.
The three men also face a fifth charge which is assault with intent to rob Avis Smith while George, Williams and Francis face a charge of accessory before the fact where it is alleged they counseled others unknown to rob the tour bus.
The seventh final charge the men face is conspiracy to rob where Williams, Sobraitie and Long were said to have conspired with others unknown to get cash and other valuable items unlawfully from the bus.
Originally, a total of eight persons were charged but after the preliminary inquiry which was completed last September, Devon ‘X-Man’ Hodge of The Alley, Adminston ‘LB’ Lewis of Crab Hill and Grenville ‘Rogie’ Rogers of Romney Ground, were freed of all charges.
On the day of the incident a large branch from a tree was said to have been placed across the access road in the vicinity of Brimstone Hill and as the driver exited the tour bus to remove the branch, it was said that two armed, masked men approached him and he ran from that area to a nearby gas station from where he notified the police of the incident.
While he was away from the scene, the gunmen allegedly robbed the tourists of an undisclosed sum of money, cellular phones, jewelry and other personal items, the reports said.
