UPDATE: No arrests yet in Crafts Alive burglaries
Seven shops at the Village were discovered burglarised last Sunday, August 25, 2013 when vendors showed up for work and the incident has left investigators fighting to determine the culprits behind the crimes.
The RVIPF’s Public Relations Officer, Diane Drayton, informed Virgin Islands News Online today, August 29, 2013 that the culprit or culprits in the Craft's Alive burglaries are still at large since no arrests have yet been made.
It remains unclear whether any credible leads or suspects have emerged in investigations thus far.
According to a press release, Works Minister Hon. Mark H. Vanterpool met with several of the vendors yesterday, who recounted the incidents and detailed what items were stolen from their shops.
The vendors reportedly expressed concern for the viability of their businesses and called on the Minister for help to avert similar incidents.
Hon. Vanterpool said the matter was discussed in Cabinet yesterday morning and indicated that the suggestion to introduce surveillance cameras in the area as a security measure is being fast tracked.
See previous story posted August 26, 2013:
UPDATE: Vendors call for better security @ Crafts Alive Village
ROAD TOWN, Tortola, VI – Crafts Alive vendor Kishmet B. Daniel is one of several vendors calling for better security measures at the Crafts Alive Village in Road Town following an unprecedented seven burglaries suffered yesterday, August 25, 2013.
“People are robbing and people are hurting. People are going through some serious times in their life and survival is a must,” she said.
Daniel lost a few items from her shop during the robberies, including a CD player and jewellery among other things. She felt the robbery could be looked at from two angles. “I am not looking at the robberies as something good, but we have to look at what’s going on in the country to help the people. If it’s like this, the worst is yet to come now,” she stated.
The craft maker recalled a recent incident of someone robbing an East End Festival vendor of a pot of food and said this shows that persons would do anything to get some food to eat.
A tearful, Desiree Rhymer, another vendor who was robbed, felt a greater Police presence or improved security measures such as security cameras should be implemented at the Village. Rhymer lost money, sandals, jewellery and clothing among other craft items following the burglaries.
“I think they need to put somebody to patrol, at least have somebody in the evenings monitoring the buildings or the cameras that they have placed there, get them set up and get them running,” Daniel said.
According to the vendor, people at Crafts Alive were simply trying to promote the Virgin Islands and it was not good to have people robbing those that are trying to help uplift the country.
Several other vendors on location as Police were conducting investigations were in agreement for greater security measures and bemoaned the fact that this was the second robbery to have occurred within the space of six weeks.
“Unless we get the economy stimulated and stop talking about the economy is doing good and face the fact that we’re going through some hard times… the worst is yet to come. Because they will soon start entering our homes with us there because they’re getting confident in what they’re doing because they aren’t getting caught,” Daniel said.
City Manager, Ms Janis Brathwaite, could not be reached for comment up to post time.
See previous story posted August 25, 2013:
7 break-ins at Crafts Alive Village!
- cash, souvenir items among stolen goods
ROAD TOWN, Tortola, VI – Cash and souvenir goods were among some of the items reported stolen during a spate of seven (7) break ins at the Crafts Alive Village today, August 25, 2013.
Reports indicate that locks were removed from seven (7) shops but it is unclear at this point whether items were removed from all of those shops.
One store owner was reportedly alerted about the discovery when her mother received a call from a concerned person informing her of the break-ins. “They keep pounding the lock off of my shop, I keep putting on locks on the shop,” said Crafts Alive vendor Kishmet Daniel. Preliminary investigations revealed that a CD player and a few other items was stolen from her shop while a laptop was left untouched.
Desiree Rhymer of Carrot Bay, another shop keeper, said her shop was also broken into. “They stole sandals, watches, t-shirts and some money,” said a tearful Rhymer, “It’s hard, it’s hard,” she lamented.
Another shopkeeper, who wished to remain unnamed, said a break-in attempt was previously made on her store but the burglars were unsuccessful after removing locks on the outside of her building. “I had money in there, I had money keeping for someone saying that was safer than home. Me, not again, not again,” she said.
Some of the locks and doors were damaged while others shops had their locks removed completely. Among the shops broken into were Eucilita’s Craft & Gift Items.
Reports indicated that Police Officers were told of break-ins as recently as six weeks ago at the Village.
Investigators from the Scenes of Crime Unit of the Royal Virgin Islands Police (RVIPF) are currently on the scene.
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30 Responses to “UPDATE: No arrests yet in Crafts Alive burglaries”
I know the cry will be that the police need to do more, but the reality is that they cannot be everywhere.