Man robbed of business cash

| 26/05/2010

(CNS): Police have said that George Town detectives are investigating another early morning mugging by a masked man with a suspected firearm – the second in 24 hours. The incident took place in the early hours of this morning (Wednesday 26 May) when a local business owner was robbed of his night takings. Shortly before 1.00am today the man, who owns a licensed premises in the George Town area, arrived at his home address in Crewe Road, close to Ryan’s Retreat. He was accompanied by three friends and was carrying a bag containing the evening’s business takings. As he left his car to enter his house he was confronted by a masked man armed with what appeared to be a handgun.

The suspect threatened the local businessman before grabbing the bag of cash and running off towards Ryan’s Retreat. Police said that no shots were fired and no-one was injured in the incident. The suspect is described as being 6’1” in height, slim build with a light brown complexion. He was wearing a grey hooded shirt and long dark pants. The suspect’s face was hidden by a plastic mask.
“It appears as if the suspect lay in wait at the location for his victim to arrive home,” said Detective Chief Inspector Peter Kennett. “I have two specific appeals to make to the public and the business community. Firstly, I would ask anyone with information about the robbery, or who may have seen a vehicle leaving the area at the relevant time, to contact George Town CID.”
Kennett went on to appeal specifically to members of the business community.  
“Please take every precaution when carrying cash. When leaving your premises with cash you should vary your times, vary your route, always make sure you have people with you. Most importantly you should, whenever possible, deposit takings in a night safe and not take them to your home address,” the senior detective added.
The incident comes in the wake of yesterday’s news that a 20 year old woman was robbed in the area of Queens court Plaza in the early morning hours of Tuesday 25 May.  
Anyone with information about this crime should contact George Town police station on 949-4222, the RCIPS confidential tip-line 949-777, or Crime Stoppers 800-8477 (TIPS).
 
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  1. Anonymous says:

    What is the Government doing about this? I think if the government would do something about the employment situation these crimes would decrease. Secondly i think local business owners should be allowed to carry some form or protection eg. gun, pepper sray, tazor etc. If it can be done in the US and the UK then why not here? we seem to follow everything else they do..

    • Anonymous says:

      None of the mentioned items are legal in the UK.

      As soon as you start allowing citizens to legally carry guns and stun guns to protect themselves we are heading down a slippery slope. Suddenly everyone is ‘packing heat’ and alll of a sudden petty arguments over a parking space or a spilt drink turn into shoot outs instead of raised voices. This is definately NOT a road we want to go down.

      It’s bad enough having the roads full of drunk Caymanians, let alone giving them guns and tasers.

  2. noname says:

    Sounds like the robber wanted to get it before the Government has a chance to steal it.  Welcome to the new Cayman.

  3. Anonymous says:

    Good point about the UK Police!  They  must have done something right…..we had a long lull from crime when they were here.  Why make it public when they are leaving, but why have they left so quick?

    Cayman!  It’s going to take much longer that a few weeks to get this crime under control! Look whats happening in Jamaica!  We are only a stones throw away from there. 

    Then again…..if you look at the Judicial system in the UK, it’s no surprise that the offenders are getting away with it without punishment!

    You barely get prison for murder in the UK!  They consider life 7 yrs in the UK! 

     

     

    • Anonymous says:

       the UK police were only detectives and here for a few weeks they werent on the force as armed officers(they were office bound) so stop saying stupidness

      • Anonymous says:

        So detectives only deals with rapes and homicides etc? The last time I checked, they also play a role in robberies and other crimes too so you stop talking foolishness!

  4. Thankful Again says:

    So are they targeting individuals now?

    • Anonymous says:

      I’m guessing that your the brains here?

      Talk about stating the bleedin obvious!

  5. Anonymous says:

    I just got off the phone speaking with the victim of this crime who informs me that his business premises has been burgled (3) three times, there was an "attempt robbery" at his home some time back which was averted by getting a "tip off" and the would be robbers almost ran over the police in a car inside his premises; and now this most recent robbery which took place this morning. All of these incidents happened within the last 3-4 years.

    What are business owners and residents supposed to do when the police cannot protect it’s citizens from all these illegal firearms on the streets and out of control criminals ??

    XXXXXX

    Forget the police and those who are in command of the RCIPS, they don’t have a clue what gun crime is all about in the caribbean. Their expertise is only in dealing with hooligans, bar brawls and traffic related offences.   

     

    • Dennie Warren Jr. says:

      Re: "What are business owners and residents supposed to do when the police cannot protect it’s citizens from all these illegal firearms on the streets and out of control criminals ?"

      Firstly, stop allowing the Commissioner of Police to mislead you into believing you can’t lawfully defend yourself and property by means of a firearm, because you can.  Any person who says otherwise is lying or ignorant of the facts.

      Section 18(1)(a) of the Firearms Law (2008 Revision) reads: "No person shall discharge any firearm on or within forty yards of any public road or in any public place except in the lawful protection of his person or property or of the person or property of some other person"  That is the current law.

      Secondly, have a security professional assess your business premises and recommend to you solutions to the general vulnerabilities which might be unique to your specific place of business.

      Thirdly, part of your alerting system should be a good alarm and camera system which does not rely upon a cable to communicate with the monitoring company…

      Fourthly, understand the laws about the use of force.  See: http://www.rcips.ky/faq.htm#s

      Fifthly, get self defense training for scenarios inside and outside buildings, and involving vehicles.  You should learn to fight with anything you get your hands on, including firearms.  You should learn how to shoot various types of firearms, particularly shotguns and handguns for the purposes of self defense…

      Sixthly, obtain at least a licensed shotgun and a handgun and other associated equipment and accessories…

      Finally, practice and hope you never need to defend yourself!

      • whodatis says:

        Goodness gracious Dennie!

        I wouldn’t want to be the poor fool that crosses you on a bad day!

        :o)

        (Good points.)

      • Anonymous says:

        Nice thinking but completely irrelevant for the ordinary person here. XXXXX a lot of your information is incorrect. Try shooting somebody in self defence and see how you are treated by the cops, I dare ya. Most people can’t afford to pay thousands for cameras and monitoring systems. Most people can’t get a shotgun licence as the procedure forgetting one is long and exceedingly difficult for the average person. Yes business owners carrying a lot of cash may want to take some of these measures (although I heard no new gun licences have been issued in ages), but the most important thing they can do isnot carry the nights takings around with them at 1am. Either clear the takings out earlier in the evening leaving a nominal float or use an insured security company to handle your cash.

  6. Anonymous says:

    Is it a coincidence? The UK police officers left. The gun crimes are back. Weird don’t you think?

     
    • Anonymous says:

      ahhh… silly argument

      And it will be the local officers here again that will solve and catch the pertatrators before they are called here again to help us!

      Please don’t blow them up like SUPERMAN!

      • Anonymous says:

        Well, if the local officers were doing such a good job, why was it necessary to call in a bunch of supermen?

    • Anon says:

      Maybe if the RCIPS had kept their mouths shut about these officers leaving the island, that might’ve made a difference. Obviously, something was keeping these criminals off the street for a while.

  7. Anonymous says:

    "What appeared to be a handgun" makes it sound as though the victim (and 3 friends) were unsure whether there was a credible threat.   Did the bandit have his index finger in the hoodie pocket?  Did he escape alone or is there a driver accomplice?  Same white/silver car?

    • Anonymous says:

      Similar to the requirement to always say "alleged" or otherwise qualify statements that are not proven, they have to say it "appeared to be a handgun." From the way this is written I would assume the possible weapon was clearly wielded by the alleged mugger (see what I did there?) and not hidden in a hoodie, but it could have been a replica, flare gun, etc. While these items are also illegal and do not make the crime any less despicable, the police cannot make assertions without proof. They cannot say the suspect threatened the victim with a handgun, because even if it looked like one it might not have technically been one.

      • Anonymous says:

        The girl in Queen’s Court and her 2 friends saw and responded to a "gun", this guy and 3 of his friends saw and responded to a "gun".  How many people have to see the "gun" before the "alleged gun" gets credit for being a real gun?   

        • Anonymous says:

          The police or the courts have to see, handle and examine the gun before it gets "credit" for being a real gun.

    • Anonymous says:

      So you are one person that police dont have to worry about. If you ever get robbed you will get all the names, addresses, license plates, color of clothing and every relevant fact about the robber.

      You are smarter than most of the crime victims here..

  8. Anonymous says:

    Hmmm…

    Is the Gun Amesty making a difference?

    I think to an opportunistist who wants to commit a crime, he will think twice before handing over his gun to the Police