BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – TWO British nationals and four Kittitians, who all reside in Birmingham, England and are holidaying in St. Kitts, claimed that someone had stealthily entered their rented Frigate Bay apartment and stole a large quantity of British and US currency.
Speaking with this media house, a relative and friend of the victims said that the six individuals, including a gentleman in his 80s, arrived in St. Kitts on Tuesday (Oct. 23) and had rented an apartment at the St. Christopher Club in Frigate Bay.
He also said that the incident occurred during the wee hours of Monday (Oct. 29) and there were no signs of forced entry.
“After securing the doors to the five-bedroom apartment, my friends and family went to bed after one o’clock Monday morning, and when they woke up they realised that their bags were in different positions to where they were originally placed.”
The relative explained that with the exception of the senior citizen, whose bag was placed by his bedside, the others were outside of their respective bedrooms.
He further explained that one of the bags was on a chair under a table in the dining room area and the others were in an unoccupied bedroom.
“The first one to have gotten up that morning was the elderly man. He realised that his bag had moved from the area in the bedroom where he left it, and he started asking questions to the householders, saying that he can’t find his money, which was over £1 300 and US$300. This prompted the others to start searching within the apartment, and when they went to the verandah they observed an envelope was on a chair. They opened the envelope but there was no money in it.
“This made everyone curious and they each decided check upon their bags, only to find out that everybody had been robbed of every cent, amounting to over £3 000 and approximately US2 000. They were left with no money,” the relative said.
The relative said he went to speak to one of the managers, but his response was “very cold”.
“The minute we walked in we told him who we were and I said to him, ‘We’ve been robbed.’ He just said, ‘Oh, go to the police.’ I then said to him, ‘Have you had any break-in on your property before?’ And he said, ‘The whole of St. Kitts got broken into.’ I said, ‘I’m not asking you about St. Kitts, I’m asking you about your property, because I notice there is no security guard here. Also, there are no security cameras and there are no alarms on the buildings, which mean that your guests are at risk.’”
The manager, he said, confirmed that the property has no security guard and they subsequently went to the Frigate Bay Police Station, where they reported the matter.
“The police went to the apartment with members of the Crime Scene Unit and did their investigations. Following that, I went back to speak to another manager and I told him how the other one operated. He said to me, ‘Oh, he doesn’t have people’s skill; he doesn’t know how to talk to people.’ But in that same breadth, that manager turned to me and said, ‘Anyway, they haven’t paid me for the room yet and I expect them to pay me.’ That was cold anyway! The first one was cold but he was much colder.
“I also asked him about security and he said to me, ‘We have some Ross University students staying in the condos and sometimes at night the university security guards would visit the property.’ I told the manager that I would be taking the issue to SKNVibes and the Observer and he enquired the reason for me doing so. I told him that it was due to the fact that he had no security for guests and that is not right, and that I was upset by their mannerism towards us.
The relative said that someone had recommended St. Christopher Club as the ideal place for them to stay during their visit, and that the apartment was booked while they were in Birmingham. “But now they have lived to regret going there.”
Police have confirmed that a report was made at the Frigate Bay Police Station and indicated that it is under investigation.
SKNVibes had also contacted Rafik Doche, a manager at St. Christopher Club, who also confirmed that the guests had reported losing monies while at in the apartment.
Doche noted that the police are investigating and “I hope the police will soon apprehend the thief”.
