The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

FEMALE residents of the Montagu constituency yesterday expressed concern that their complaints to the Royal Bahamas Police Force about a recent spate of robberies affecting women in the area have been overlooked due to the force’s concentration on “more serious crime”.

One of the residents, who wished not to be named for fear of her safety, claimed police have yet to visit or patrol the Shirlea Road area despite reports that numerous women in the area have been robbed.

She said the robberies began around three months ago.

“We’re all really scared,” the resident said. “We’re not going out at all. We’re staying home in the night and cautious when coming home in the day. When it comes to that you really have to pray to God. We’ve had about 11 robberies in the last couple of months.

“Even after all these robberies in the road, I thought we would have at least seen one of them (patrol cars) but we haven’t seen any. Hopefully by publishing our concerns we’ll get some visibility.”

The resident claims the robberies began in June of this year. Since then, she said she and other female residents were robbed while parked in their driveways, in their yards and while walking on Shirlea Road.

As recently as last Tuesday, she said one of her neighbours was robbed while parked in her yard with the windows down.

She claimed that when the robber reached in and grabbed her friend’s bag, a “tussle” ensued which resulted in her friend allegedly suffering a broken finger.

The resident said her friend’s bag was eventually found but “only her glasses and house keys were inside; her money and credit cards were all gone”.

The resident said she was also robbed by a man that appeared to be “no more than 20 or 30 years old” four weeks ago.

She said while walking on Shirlea Road, a young man “came running down Shirley Street”, approached her and demanded she give him her bag. In the ensuing moments, the resident claimed she was robbed of all of her jewelry as well as money.

“I called the police and told them that I had just been robbed, but they said I would have to come to Wulff Road,” she said. “That night when I went and they took my statement, I said this has been the 7th day of robberies in our neighbourhood, I would really like if you could send a patrol car.

“The officer said ‘Well we’d like to but we don’t have the cruisers to send because they’re always out because of the other crime affairs.’”

Residents are unsure of whether or not the robberies are committed as solo acts or done by a member of a group, she told The Tribune.

However, the resident said she and her friend believe the same individual robbed them, and that the individual or individuals seems to be targeting only females.

Attempts to reach MP for Montagu Richard Lightbourn about the alleged robberies were unsuccessful up to press time, however the female resident said a neighbourhood meeting would be held at Temple Christian today.