Isaac Blackman beaten, robbed
...attack happened around noon. Cops in search of Blackman's Ford Ranger, registration TCD-1198
By Susan Mohammed susan.mohammed@trinidadexpress.com
Story Created: Jun 2, 2014 at 5:53 PM ECTMUSICIAN and recording artiste Isaac Blackman was beaten and robbed by thieves who stole valuables from his home in Piparo at around midday today..
Blackman, 31, was at home with his two sons, aged two and three years old, when six men stormed the house and announced a hold-up.
Blackman is the son of the late Ras Shorty I (Garfield Blackman), a member of his family's music band The Love Circle, and is internationally known for his 2006 hit song "To the Ceiling".
The family has for many years lived in an isolated area of Piparo.
Blackman's sister, Nehilet Blackman, told the Express : "He was at home with the two children because they were too sick to go to day-care. It was around noon. We grew up in the country where we are accustomed leaving our doors open. The thieves just walked in the front door".
The Express was told that the men, all wearing masks, held cutlasses to Blackman, and they locked the children in a bedroom on the first floor.
The thieves tied Blackman's hands with plastic straps and nylon string, and demanded he tell them where his cash, music equipment and other valuables were. Most of the music and studio equipment was at another location, the Express was told.
His sister said: "He told me he could not find the keys to his van, and they hit him on his head with the cutlass. He fell down and was almost knocked out. They told him that if he was another person (who was not known) he would have been dead. "
The men stole Blackman's Ford Ranger, registration TCD-1198, valued $120,000.The stolen items, including appliances, were loaded onto the tray and covered with tarpaulin.
Blackman, who was at the Princes town Police Station up to late yesterday, was able to wriggle free. "He is very flexible so he was able to bring his hands over his head, and he got a kitchen knife and cut the straps and strings. He opened the bedroom door where the boys were and they were crying and screaming", said the sister.