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Warner under attack
Francis Joseph
Published: 29 Jun 2009
The building at Munroe Road, Cunupia, which houses
an electronics store and the sub-office of the Chaguanas
West Constituency. PHOTO: ADRIAN BOODAN
Francis Joseph
On his arrival in South Africa on Friday for yesterday’s Confederations Cup Final, Chaguanas West MP Jack Warner learnt that bandits attacked the Cunupia sub-office of his constituency, and that a threat had been made on his life. The Fifa vice-president, when contacted yesterday, said he was not worried about the threat to his life, but was concerned that crime had reached his doorstep.
Warner said he has asked his Chaguanas West office to report the death threat to the Chaguanas Police Station. He also pointed out that a shot was fired at the Chaguanas West office in December 2007, breaking the glass pane to the front. With such a threat, Warner admitted that he had to be more careful. He was also informed by constituency officials that a robbery took place in the same building where his sub-constituency office is housed.
According to reports, an electronics store located at Munroe Road, Cunupia, and owned by Ryan De Castro was robbed. De Castro was beaten and robbed of thousands of dollars worth of electronic equipment. The robbery took place around 2 pm on Thursday, but the Cunupia police did not respond until 5 pm.
After he was robbed, De Castro sought safety at Warner’s sub-office. He used the phones there to call the police.
According to an eyewitness, several youths, ages ranging from 23 to 25, arrived in a yellow garbage truck. They pounced on De Castro, robbing him of his laptop, play stations, games, surveillance system, cameras and accessories. The surveillance camera, which would have captured the faces of the suspects, was also taken.
The bandits knew that De Castro also lived on the compound. They told him that they were going to take him upstairs to kill him. According to the witness, the bandits had a gun, but one of the bullets fell out of the chamber. De Castro managed to escape and pounded on the door of the constituency office for help. According to the witness, De Castro was beaten by the men, causing him to walk with a limp.
A call was made to the Cunupia police to block the exits from Munroe Road as it would have been easy to spot a yellow garbage truck. The witness said she also called Crime Intelligence and E-999, but to her amazement, the police did not know where the MP’s office was located.
In response, Warner said, “There is really not much that I can say except that the crime for which we get reports on a regular basis is not just coming closer to home, it is now home on our doorsteps as it has indeed been for sometime now.”
Warner sympathised with De Castro, but said he was not surprised at the response of the police. “There is so much that needs to be done to reform the Police Service,” he said, “It is with much regret that I say we may not see such reform in our collective lifetime simply because of the lack of political will.”
