One man hospitalised, former police officer charged
Caught up in the midst of a daring robbery attempt, midmorning, last Monday, December 15th, the National Lotteries Authority (NLA) employee who escaped the traumatic encounter physically unscathed, is extremely thankful to God for sparing her life.{{more}}
Jeannette Dublin, who has been working at the NLA for the last sixteen years, told SEARCHLIGHT that she is still fighting to settle her mind after the frightening ordeal.
Police have charged a former police officer, Ervin Billingy, 29, of Mt Greenan, and another man, 25-year-old Rodney Clouden, also of Mt Greenan, was at press time under police guard at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital recovering from gunshot wounds believed to have been sustained during the incident.
According to Dublin, she and an armed Guardsman Security officer were doing cash collections and had finished making collections at Jim Bobbâs Mini Mart in Mt Grenan when the drama unfolded at around 10 am.
The Mt Grenan stop was the third of a series of stops that were scheduled and they had collected around $5,000 at that time.
According to Dublin, they came out of the shop and went into the two-door Suzuki Escudo jeep to go to their next stop.
âI donât turn down my window until I move off. I donât take down my window once we are at a stand still,â she explained.
According to the woman, she wanted to say something to the woman in the shop and started to go back out of the jeep when two masked men showed up.
She told SEARCHLIGHT that she noticed that one with a gun went to the left (passenger) side of the jeep by the guard, while the other man came to her side and demanded the money.
âI said son hold on, hold on,â she said.
According to the woman, who has been doing this type of collection for most of her tenure at the NLA, she stepped out and told her attacker: âBoss, all is yours.â
Meanwhile, on the other side, the guard was able to get out of the jeep and confront the other bandit who was brandishing a gun.
âAll I know the one with the gun run,â Dublin, a mother of one, said.
As for her attacker, unable to get the money from where it was, he tried to get the key for the jeep, but before he could, the guard had come around and started wrestling with him.
In the midst of it all, shots rang out!
The woman, still shaken by the incident, said that she was in the midst of the tussle, and when the first shot rang out, she ran behind the jeep and then she heard another shot.
As the dust settles and the legal wheels turn, the NLA employee told SEARCHLIGHT that she canât help but think about how fortunate she is to be alive.
âChristmas will have greater meaning for me,â she said.
General Manager of the NLA, Mc Gregor Sealey told SEARCHLIGHT that he is thankful to God that nothing worse happened and his employee is ok.
He also praised the work of the Guardsman Security officer who foiled the robbery attempt.
SEARCHLIGHT was informed by a source that it is believed that the armed robber encountered difficulty with his gun, which is why he eventually ran off and left his partner in the cold.
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