Man accuses rural constable of robbing him at gunpoint

A rural constable has been accused by an elderly minibus driver of robbing him at gunpoint.

And with no arrests being made since the report was made late last year, the 71-year-old man is now fearful that the man and his accomplice will return to finish the job.{{more}}

Edmund Bailey, a resident of Park Hill, is calling on police to give him an update on a report he made about being robbed of $1,500 over two months ago.

Relating his story to SEARCHLIGHT, Bailey said that at about 9:45 p.m. on December 18, 2014, he had just finished working and had parked his bus in his yard.

He said he was just about to close the gate behind him when two men, clad in army fatigues accosted him and told him they were police officers.

“One point a gun to me stomach and took me bunch of keys from me…”

Bailey said they took him to the house and tried to open the door, but had difficulty doing so. They then handed the keys back to him and ordered him to open the door to the house.

He said they carried him into the house, where one of his attackers pointed the gun to his back and told him to place his hands in the air, while the other man ransacked the house.

According to Bailey, one of the men said that a named person sent him for a gun that was at the house.

“He said so more than one time. I told him if he was looking for a gun and gun is here, he will find one,” the elderly man said.

Bailey said his ordeal lasted for nearly four hours, and at one point, when he told his assailants that he needed to urinate because of his diabetes, he was told to urinate where he stood.

“…I told them I wanted to pee, but they didn’t let me, so I had to pee in my pants right there… I had the money in the inner pocket of my pants, so they took my own knife and cut it out, ” Bailey recounted.

He said the men destroyed cupboards, his toilet, bathroom sink and stole his stereo.

After they did not find what they came for, he said the men went outside and had a conversation.

“Dem been out there saying they going to call the police transport… I was there for a while and I wanted to come outside, but I was afraid.”

After a while, he ventured outside.

“I just take my brave mind and came out and they were gone,” Bailey said.

He added that he did not hear the sound of a vehicle.

The frightened man said he walked to one of his neighbours’ house, where he made a call to the Colonarie police station.

On arrival at the scene, Bailey said the police officers advised him not to sleep at the house that night.

A few days later, Bailey said he got the surprise of his life.

He said he had decided to go to the Georgetown police station to make a report, and while there, he recognized one of his attackers.

“I saw the said man come upstairs to where I was. I start to laugh and if you see how he been watching me. He went back down and I told the officer that I see one of the men and I told him he just gone downstairs,” he said.

He said when he enquired who the man was, he was told the man was a rural constable.

Bailey said the officer gave him the assurance that the matter would be handled.

After a few days had elapsed without hearing from the police, Bailey said he spoke to another police officer about the matter, but nothing was done. However, sometime later, Bailey said officers from the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) came to his home to take photographs of the crime scene.

“I want some light to be shed on this. I don’t want to leave this so. I could have been dead.

“I was so frightened. All now so, I am still panicking, because me alone live. I don’t have any neighbours. I have an aunt who lives a good distance from me, but if I bawl out, she ain’t going hear,” he said.

“I figuring dem man could come back for me and this time it go be something else. It go be death you talking about,” he noted.

When contacted, head of the Criminal Investigations Department Assistant Superintendent Sydney James told SEARCHLIGHT that matter is being investigated, but declined to speak further on it. Rural constables make up a specialized branch of the Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force, which was introduced in 2010 to directly address theft of agricultural produce and livestock.