BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – FOUR men who were sentenced for the November 14, 2010 robbery of 17 tourists (including a baby) in the vicinity of the Brimstone Hill Fortress, had their sentence reduced.
The men, Elroy ‘Stannie’ Williams of Crab Hill, Sandy Point; Curtis Long of Downing Street, Sandy Point; Junior ‘Q’ Sobratie of Sandy Point; and George ‘Naddy’ Welsh of Fig Tree had appealed their sentence and appeared yesterday (June 3) at the Eastern Caribbean Court of Justice before Justices of Appeal Gertel Thom, Davidson Baptiste and John Carrington..
Welsh was represented by Attorney-at-Law Hesketh Benjamin, Sobratie by John Cato and Long by Nassibou Butler while Williams was self-represented.
After listening to arguments by the defence counsel and Williams as well as the Director of Public Prosecution, the Justices of Appeal made reference to the area in which the crime was committed, noting that it was a popular tourist site.
The Justices of Appeal found that the aggregating factor had outweighed the mitigating factor as a firearm was involved in commission of the crime.
They however ruled that the men’s sentence be reduced.
Long and Sobratie will now serve 11 years, Williams 10 and Welsh eight. They also ruled that the time the men were incarcerated must also be taken into consideration in their reduced sentence.
The four men, who had pleaded guilty at the end of trial on June 2, 2012, were each sentenced to 13 years and three months.
On Sunday, November 14, 2010, while 17 cruise ship tourists (including a baby) were aboard a coaster tour bus on their way to visit the Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park, a large branch from a tree was placed across the access road in the vicinity of Lime Kiln to impede the smooth flow of traffic.
The driver exited the tour bus to remove the branch, but while doing so 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 robbed the tourists of an undisclosed sum of money, cellular phones, jewellery and other personal items.
This incident had made headline news in the international media and had resulted in the cancellation of two cruise ships’ calls to Port Zante, St. Kitts on November 16 and 17, 2010.
In addition to the four convicted men, four others were arrested and charged in connection with the incident.
They are Devon ‘X-Man’ Hodge of The Alley, Adminston ‘LB’ Lewis of Crab Hill, Grenville ‘Rogie’ Rogers of Romney Ground, all of Sandy Point – and Delvin ‘Stobie’ Francis of St. Paul’s Village.
Hodge, Lewis and Rogers were charged with robbery but were set free following a Preliminary Inquiry at the Basseterre Magistrate’s Court on Monday, September 5, 2011.
Williams, Sobratie, Long, Francis and Welsh were indicted on four counts of robbery, one count of assault with intent to rob, one count of accessory before the fact and one count of conspiracy to rob; charges to which they all had pleaded not guilty at a hearing during the 2012 January Assizes.
However, on Wednesday, June 6, 2012, Sobratie, Williams and Long each pleaded guilty to one count of robbery while Francis and Welsh both pleaded guilty to accessory before the fact.
They were all given the maximum sentence on July 19, 2012 for their part in the incident, minus one-third for their guilty plea. However, Francis only had to serve six years and eight months while the others were each given a 13-year sentence.
