CHARLESTOWN, Nevis – BANDITS continue to deprive hard-working residents on Nevis of their earnings and personal belongings, as the most recent of their nefarious activities occurred on Thursday (Aug. 30) at Percy’s Jewellery Duty Free Shop in Ramsbury.
Reports reaching this media house state that sometime after 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, two armed men had entered Percy’s Jewellery Store, which is situated next door to the office of Cozier & Associates Barristers-at-Law & Solicitors in Ramsbury, and robbed the entity of an undisclosed quantity of gold and diamond jeweller.
This morning (Sept. 2), when contacted, Police Press and Public Information Officer Inspector Lyndon David confirmed that the robbery did take place and promised that a press release would be issued.
This media house learned that because of the security system in which customers can only enter the store after the system was activated by someone within, the two well-dressed bandits were not masked and had pretended to be customers.
It was also learnt that at the time of the robbery, the Hon. Dwight Cozier, Junior Minister of Trade and Industry, Consumer Affairs and Import and Export Control in the Nevis Island Administration, was in the store along with the owner and his wife.
Reports state that on entering the store, the bandits brandished their firearms, one of them forced Minister Cozier to lie on the floor with a gun to his head while the other jumped the counter and at gunpoint proceeded to rob Percy and his wife of over US$100 000 in gold and diamond jewellery as well as cash before making good their escape.
Reports also stated that one of the bandits had fired a shot in the direction of Percy's wife but she was unhurt as the bullet struck the showcase.
In recent months, many armed robberies were carried out in Nevis which resulted in residents calling on the police for more patrols, especially at nights.
Among those robberies was one in February Nevis that made international headlines when 73-year-old US Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, while holidaying with his wife at the Golden Rock, was allegedly robbed of some $1 000 by a man armed with a black machete and wearing a black shirt, black pants, black shoes and black mask.
And shortly after 10:00 p.m. on Sunday, June 10, an employee of a Chinese restaurant in Charlestown was shot on his hand during a robbery; while In July, two masked gunmen had robbed taxi drivers Dale Pemberton and Vernal McDonald of over US$300 and US$400 respectively in the vicinity of Montpelier Plantation Inn while they were waiting to transport a number of Four Seasons’ guests to that Resort.
On the night of Tuesday, July 17, while a US couple was house-sitting in the Hamilton Estate home for a holidaying family, two males had entered the home to rob the occupants. An altercation ensued which resulted in injuries to the couple.
On that same night, a former manager of Golden Rock Hotel in Gingerland was injured by a male who had forcibly entered her home. The injuries were not life-threatening but she was taken to the Alexandra Hospital for observation.
At approximately 1:00 p.m. on Saturday (Aug. 4), police responded to a report of robbery at the Sweet Lips Bar in Charlestown and initial investigations revealed that a masked gunman had entered the business entity and robbed the owner and patrons of an undisclosed sum of money and jewellery.
And on August 3, a partly-masked gunman robbed TDC Drinks Depot of an undisclosed sum of money.
