Two apprehended after breakage of Bourda stalls

Jan 27, 2009 News

Two male suspects were apprehended yesterday by City Constabulary officers after they were identified as the culprits who broke into as many as 13 stalls at the Bourda Market, carting off money and other items and leaving behind thousands of dollars in damage.

Stallholder Lennox Andrews points to where a lock was removed.

It is believed that the break-ins occurred between Sunday evening and yesterday morning, as no vending activities would have been undertaken in the market during that period of time.
One of the victims, Lennox Andrews, said that his loss amounted to some $40,000. According to the grocery stallholder, he has operated his business in the market for almost 10 years. He noted that this is the second time that his stall has been broken into.
Andrews said that he is yet to estimate the value of the damage caused to his stall.
Melvanie Boodram, another stallholder, who operates a salon in the market, claims that she has been in business there for about three years, but never had her stall broken before.
Although all of the items in her stall were accounted for, the woman lamented that the damage to her structure is somewhere in the region of $11,000.
According to reports, the bandits may have been on a rampage specifically for cash, since, although some stalls were broken, hardly any of their contents were taken.
Their attempts at breaking into some stalls were, however, futile, due to extensive grillwork.
Orin La Rose, who owns a boutique, had the locks on the outer door of his stall broken.
He, like most of the other vendors, received a call informing him of the situation prior to his arriving at the market yesterday.
La Rose said that he reached his stall, at about 09:30 hours, and saw broken locks lying on the ground. A single lock remained intact. This prevented the perpetrators from accessing his stall.
The man said that he was grateful to discover that there was nothing missing from his stall.
Reports are that officers of the constabulary operated with alertness and were able to apprehend the two suspects.
According to most of the victims of the attack, the men are not known around the market. Some of the vendors are of the belief that the suspects were able to access the market through the eastern side of the facility where rehabilitation works are ongoing at a relatively slow pace.
Clerk of Markets, Schulder Griffith, also expressed concern yesterday that rehabilitation works, which commenced at the market during the latter part of last year, have not been completed.
He opined that vendors are made to suffer not only from attacks on their stalls, but they are also subjected to leaking roofs when it rains.
It was disclosed that the works have been delayed because of a lack of adequate financing.
Efforts to contact the City Engineer’s Department for a detailed comment proved futile. Meanwhile, this newspaper has been informed that the two apprehended suspects are expected to make a court appearance today.