By FRANCIS JOSEPH
After spending close to five years in prison, five Tobago nationals were sentenced to heavy sentences for carrying out a bank robbery on the island of Carriacou in 2021.
On Tuesday, Madame Justice Paula Gilford, presiding in the High Court of Grenada, sentenced Nashawn Scotland to 22 years in prison, while co-accused Keon Dick, Allan Melville, Jabari Roach and Akeem John, each received ten-year sentences.
The five were convicted in connection with the October 18th, 2021 robbery, during which armed assailants stole more than EC$30,000 from the bank before attempting to flee Grenada by sea in a pirogue after travelling from Tobago. Their escape was cut short when officers of the Royal Grenada Police Force, assisted by the Grenada Coast Guard, intercepted the vessel following a high-speed chase.
The five were arrested shortly after the robbery and had remained before the Grenadian courts as the matter progressed. No money was ever recovered.
THE CAPTURE
A high sea chase involving two of the vessels belonging to the Grenada Coast Guard resulted in the arrest of five nationals from Tobago, hours after they staged a daylight robbery of the branch in Carriacou of the Grenada Co-operative Bank Limited (GCBL).
A police officer of the Grenada Police Force said the chase lasted for about two-and-a-half hours before the bank robbers were out-run by the faster of the two Coast Guard vessels called to assist in the operation.
He said that within minutes of the bandits staging the robbery, the police station in Carriacou was able to contact officers in Petite Martinique as the get-away boat used by the robbers from Tobago were heading in that direction.
He said the get-away boat with the robbers was spotted along the Windward coastline travelling South-east in the direction of Tobago and they decided to chase after it.
According to the police officer, the boat was moving with great speed and was out-running the local coastguard vessel.
“It’s faster than us by far. So what we did was call the other coast guard vessel which was smaller but had three engines and was very fast,” he said
The officer stated that within a short space of time the Coast Guard boat which was in Harvey Vale got into action.
The officer added, “We called them and explained to them where we were and within a short space of time they came and took over the chase.
“By the time we called them they were already in Windward. They were already called as well (and told about the robbery).”
About an hour-and-a-half later, the faster Coast Guard vessel caught up with the one that had started the chase after the boat with the robbers from Tobago.
According to the officer, it was reported that the sea water was very calm on the day and the local Coast Guard men could see the boat with the robbers in front of them.
He declared, “Outside was really nice and calm and you could see them in the distance. We just wanted to keep them in our eyesight until the fast Coast Guard boat came because we knew once the fast Coast Guard came then they would be able to outmanoeuvre them and get them.”
According to the evidence, two of the five robbers went into the bank while the other three stayed outside on the look-out. One of the men held up the bank and the other proceeded to remove the money. There are also reports that two of the bank’s customers who were inside the building at the time of the robbery, were also stripped of their money by the men.
According to the police, the Coast Guard men did not recover any money from the robbers as they threw it into the open sea during the chase.
He said the only thing that they got from the robbers was a magazine containing 3 bullets on the boat.
