Robbers chased, caught, beaten

While shopkeeper Veronica Miller is thankful that she was not hurt when two men snatched her gold chain, the men who were arrested were not as lucky, as they were dealt some vicious blows by the young men who gave chase and cornered them at a fast food restaurant.{{more}}

Miller’s chain was recovered, but the Fountain woman told SEARCHLIGHT that she would not be wearing her prized possession, which she indicated cost more than $4,000, any time soon.

In an interview on Wednesday, Miller told SEARCHLIGHT that the drama unfurled on Tuesday afternoon, as she was sitting outside of her shop with another customer, shortly after 2 p.m., when someone entered the shop.

“I was kinda dozing off, because things was kinda slow.

“So the guy say ‘V, somebody want something’. So, when I open my eyes, I saw a guy standing here in a red and blue and white streak jersey, say he want a Busta (soft drink). Ah say no Busta dey. He say ‘nothing at all in plastic bottle?’ Ah say no.

“Well I close back my eye again, and about three minutes after I hear ‘sell me a Kiss cake’, so when I hear that I open my eyes, I see a guy standing in a red jersey….”

Miller said that she got up from her seat, and as she entered the shop, the individual in the red jersey snatched her chain, then both men ran to the back of her shop, situated on the Fountain/Belair main road.

Miller, who said that she was frightened at the time, called to some other men who were on the other side of the street, and told them what happened.

Four of the men, one of them her own son, chased the robbers through some bushes, across a river, down to the VINLEC power station in Cane Hall, until they got to Arnos Vale.

In an attempt to evade the vigilantes, the bandits entered the Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet there, but were followed and trapped.

One KFC staff member told SEARCHLIGHT that the bandits were brutally assaulted by the men who chased them, much to the shock of the customers and staff in the restaurant.

The staff member said that one of the robbers suffered a cut to his head from the blows he received with a piece of pipe, and urinated on himself in the process.

“I turn back and started to feel sorry for him, because of the amount of licks he was getting,” the employee told SEARCHLIGHT.

A firearm was recovered from one of the robbers and handed to the manager of KFC, who had called the police during the melee, SEARCHLIGHT was informed.

A police unit arrived shortly after the call was made, and the men were removed from the area. They were then taken back to Fountain, where Miller positively identified them as the men who were at her shop earlier.

For a short period of time, the KFC restaurant was partially closed, to facilitate the cleaning of the area where the skirmish had taken place.

The two men were, up to press time, in police custody, but were not yet charged by police.

Miller said this is the second time bandits have attempted to steal her chain.

“I was out dey sit down as usual, and they waiting ‘til the place dead,” she recalled. “The guy say he want two Empire (cigarettes), so after I come in the shop and I take up the two Empire, he grab the same chain. One of dem got nine months,” Miller stated.

“A lot of break-ins taking place in the area…. They broke into the shop seven times already,” she added.

Miller expressed gratitude to the men across the street, who responded quickly to her cries for help.

She said that she was confident that they would help, because they were close friends with her son.

SEARCHLIGHT spoke with some of the men who gave chase, who were at their usual hang out spot the following day. They said that they could not have allowed the situation to go unchallenged and issued a stern warning to would be bandits: “We don’t want no thief around here. Once it come to thiefing, we don’t tolerate that!” the individual said.