Latest update April 16th, 2026 4:35 PM
Knife-wielding ‘customer’ robs bookstore
Police have begun investigating a robbery which was committed on the Literacy Book Store, which is located in East Street, North Cummingsburg.
Around 13:30 hours yesterday, a man posing as a customer held the store’s clerk at knife point and relieved her of personal belongings, as well as a quantity of cash which represented the day’s sales to that point.
The clerk, Asahna Lall, told this newspaper she was in the store at the counter when the individual entered.
She recalled that the man, who is of African descent and believed to be in his mid 20’s, enquired about a law book. At the time, Lall and the ‘customer’ were the only ones in the store.
“When he asked for the book I told him that we don’t have it, so he then asked me to show the types of dictionaries we have,” Lall recalled.
She said that after showing the man the dictionaries they have in stock he opted to buy one. Lall said as she went over to the cash register to make out a bill, the man pulled a knife from his waist and menacingly began demanding cash.
“He took me to the back in the stock room and told me to hand over all the money, so I took him where the money was…that was like $20,000, he took away my cell phone and I had $17,000 in my wallet,” the visibly shaken woman related.
When the bandit was apparently satisfied that his demands had been met, he locked Lall in the stock room and made good his escape.
Lall was subsequently rescued after a security guard employed at the neighbouring Winfer Gardens Primary School heard crying in the building and alerted someone else.
This newspaper was told that the security guard, in the company of another woman, went into the book store and began calling for Lall, who was at the time sobbing uncontrollably and hitting on the door.
She was eventually relieved of her discomfort as the security opened the door leading to the stock room which was secured from the outside. The police were immediately summoned.
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