Thief beats woman for BlackBerry, abandons cycle while fleeing scene

May 30, 2012 News

The search is on for a brazen thief who attacked a woman for her BlackBerry cell phone. The incident occurred at High Palm Road, South Ruimveldt, sometime around 22:00 hours last Sunday.
The bandit fled the scene moments before angry residents armed with sticks, bricks and other weapons, converged on the scene. In his haste to escape, the thief dropped his bicycle.

Do you know this bicycle? This was the suspect’s means of transport. It is now with the police.

One man, who preferred to remain anonymous, told this publication that he was heading to the main road when he saw an individual on a bicycle riding slowly behind him. He said that the street was dark and lonely, so he became concerned as the person approached. The witness continued that he stopped in the middle of the street and started to use foul language to scare the man, but instead, he said the cyclist pulled up next to him and asked him if he needed “a ride to the road head”.
After answering in the negative, the eyewitness said he continued on his path, passing two young ladies who were heading into the same street he had just exited. The man said he noticed one of the girls had a cell phone in her hand. He also said he saw the man on the cycle saying something to the girls as they walked into the street.
The man said shortly after he heard a female voice screaming loudly “Help, help.” He said as he ran back into the street, he saw a figure running into a path situated between two abandoned houses.
The man said one of the girls was lying in the parapet. She was holding her belly and needed assistance to walk.
The victim, who also requested anonymity, related that she was walking with her friend when a man on a bicycle began to talk to them. The girl told residents that her friend was a few steps ahead of her since she had dropped back to find an appropriate area where she could ease herself.
She said as she stopped to urinate, the man came over her and grabbed her phone. The woman said she tried to fight him off, but he started to get violent.
“She seh de man start cuff she up in she belly and cuff she up in she face, and take away de phone,” one eyewitness said angrily as he clenched a baton.
According to those present, as several persons rushed to rescue the victim, the man fled through a pathway, running among thick bushes beyond the old houses. So desperate was he to escape, that he abandoned his bicycle on the street.
For more than an hour, persons armed with weapons stood in front of the abandoned houses while some ventured into the bushes in search of the robber. They also searched the old houses but to no avail.
The police were summoned and they too swept the area, but turned up empty-handed. The suspect’s bicycle was placed into their vehicle.
Kaieteur News understands that after the crowd had dispersed and the police had left the scene, the assailant was seen climbing down from a tree in the area where the searches were conducted. The police were called again, but by the time they returned, the man had again disappeared.
The victim, who is from Buxton, was at the time attending a barbeque. She and her friend had left the event for a brief period when the incident occurred.