Gunmen break into Chateaubelair home looking for drugs
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October 21, 2011

Gunmen break into Chateaubelair home looking for drugs

A Chateaubelair family is still living in fear after gunmen broke into their Golden Grove home some time after 10:00 p.m. Monday.{{more}}

The family of four was already in bed when when the front door was pounded and a voice shouted: “Open up, police!”.

Forty-four-year old farmer Noel Alexander told SEARCHLIGHT that when he opened the door, he was confronted by two gunmen who pushed their way into the house asking, “Wey de coke is ? Buju tek we boss coke, an now we want it back”, Alexander said.

Alexander’s wife Carmen and son Jaden were awake, but daughter Nicola remained asleep throughout the ordeal, said Carmen.

The woman said the taller gunman grabbed her husband, and told him to take him where the coke is, while the other one said that he was going to tie them up, while brandishing a roll of grey duct tape.

Alexander said that after the man took him outside, he told him to find the coke or he and his whole family will die.

Alexander said he took the gunman to a piece of land that he farms further inland from his home, and told him that he had buried it in the potato field. Alexander said that he was given a piece of cutlass, and told to dig at gunpoint, but after a while, the gunman got careless and he was able to escape, while shots rang out all around him.

“I jump down in the gutter and start to run, Alexander exclaimed.

Meanwhile at the house, according to Jaden, the gunman told them that they were going to murder them if they didn’t get the coke, because it was “dead time” when everyone is in their homes watching Monday night wrestling on television.

Deciding to do something about the situation, Jaden said that while the gunman was speaking to his mother, he made a dash for the door and ran into the back garden with the gunman following.

“Ah mek he look like a fool. Ah lay down in the dark and he can’t see me,” Jaden said.

After he got away, Jaden went some distance to his grandfather’s home and woke him. They then called out other neighbours, but when they got to the scene, the gunmen had already gone.

Jaden’s mother made her escape soon afterwards. She ran into some bush and took off her white top so that she wouldn’t be easily seen in the dark, she told SEARCHLIGHT. Carmen said that she heard persons calling her name, but she thought the gunmen had come looking for her.

Carmen said that while they were at the house, one of the gunmen called the other Buju, but her older son Glenroy Pierre is sometimes call Buju also. Pierre, 33, of Queen’s Drive along with Dominican Jones Telemanque are currently on remand at Her Majesty’s Prisons (HMP); they pleaded not guilty to possession and exportation of 31 kilos of cocaine.

The charges stem from an incident that occurred in the Morne Ronde area of the North Leeward coast on July 11 of this year. According to the police, Pierre, Telemanque and another Dominican Clement Pierre were the occupants of a vessel “Oshantie” when Clement Pierre was killed in an exchange of fire.

However, Glenroy told reporters he witnessed the police kill Pierre and that they only locked him up for the drugs because he witnessed the killing.

Monday’s incident has put a scare in her family, according to Carmen, “I don’t deal wid Glenroy wid nutten”, said Carmen.

“I door know, and I door war fo know way coke look like. Dey need to leave us alone,” she continued.

Noel said that it would be a long time before he gets over the experience and he is thankful that their lives were not lost.

A police spokesperson told SEARCHLIGHT that the residents of the area must be commended for their response to the situation and the help they offered.

“It shows that the good people in the area are fed up with all the violence and crime of the past weeks”, the officer said.

He also said that Jaden should also be commended for his bravery. (TY)