Basil Williams believes that the increase in vagrant presence in Kingstown is an issue that needs immediate attention from the police force – especially given the damage one vagrant recently inflicted on his vehicle.{{more}}

Williams explained that on the morning of Saturday, November 8, he was in Randy’s Supermarket (Lower Bay Street) when he noticed a fracas between the store’s security guard and a man reputed to be a vagrant. The man was physically removed from the store but later returned, intent on revenge. Williams, an Upper Sion Hill resident, recalled that he was at the cashier’s till when he saw people running away from the supermarket’s entrance. Apparently, the vagrant had re-appeared with a concrete block, which he promptly hurled towards the establishment.

Fortunately for the supermarket owner, the block did not strike the property. However, Williams was not so lucky. “He (the vagrant) tossed the concrete block towards the supermarket but it never entered. It was blocked by my vehicle!” Williams related. The vagrant then ran off towards the Rose Place area.

The damage to his vehicle, a silver Toyota mini-van, will set back Williams $500 – a bill he will have to foot himself. In this current climate of financial difficulty, it is a tidy sum. “The expense of repairing my vehicle is mine,” he lamented. He praised the police for responding promptly to the scene and investigating the matter immediately. On Monday, November 10, he was summoned to the police barracks to identify a suspect they had detained. However, the suspect was not the person who had damaged his car, so the hunt continues.

Clearly enraged about the matter, Williams said that had he caught up with the perpetrator, it would be he who the police would be looking for. “I would have been the one the authorities would be holding had I come out of the supermarket in time!”

As a peaceful, law-abiding citizen, Williams is highly affronted by the fact that vagrants continue to harass members of the public, seemingly with impunity. He admitted that this is not his first such encounter but it is the most serious. Although he treasures his relationship with the police, Williams is adamant that they need to take immediate action on the situation because there are many others who suffer the same fate on a daily basis. “Something has to be done about these people who walk the streets!” he insisted. “I am disturbed that peaceful citizens can be harassed in this way.”

Clearly horrified at the prospect, Williams pointed out: “That brick could have hit somebody. They could have been dead!” (JSV)