Trinidad and Tobago: Stolen items recovered, two charged with violent robbery

Trinidad and Tobago: Two suspects were produced by the police before a Master of the High Court on August 19, after a brief investigation of a violent robbery that took place in Maraval Police District last week.

The two suspects, Joel Cruickshank, 26, of Dan Kelly, Laventille, and Moses Waithe, 24, of Dickson Street, Maraval, have been filed with serious charges in connection to the act. The two were accused of two counts of Robbery with Violence, however, Waithe had other charges having possession of firearm and ammunitions.

This robbery took place at the break of Thursday morning, 15th August 2024. As described by the police, at about 8:30 AM three men attacked a man in the garage area and compelled him to retreat into the house. The assailants, one of who was holding a gun, lashed the man and another individual present in the room before proceeding to rob the house.

The assailants took several items, which included a Samsung 55-inch TV, US $15 thousand, several other foreign currencies, a Samsung S23 Ultra phone and Samsung A15 phone. The three culprits also disappeared with the victim’s grey NP 300 pickup truck.

Police officers from the Maraval Police Station acting on information received by them and launched an immediate investigation. PC Persad and a team of officers while on mobile patrol in uptown Port of Spain, in the area of Park and Henry Streets, saw a NP 300 pickup truck similar to that of the stolen car.

The officers when attempted to stop the car, two men got out of it. One of them threw away a 9mm pistol and a magazine with thirteen bullets. After a short foot-pursuit, both suspects were caught.

On searching the vehicle, the police discovered a large amount of cash; two Samsung cellular phones; two televisions; and a safe, all of the items were claimed by the victims to have been stolen. The aggressive follow-up by the police enabled them to recover most of the items that had been stolen.

As for the two men, both of them have been charged, though the case is still open as the police are still tracking a third man who was involved in the robbery. The police and other members of the authority have called on anyone with information that would be useful in the investigations to come forward.

The two accused men are now held in custody with charges that are grave in nature. The verdict that will be concluded on this case will probably be used as a benchmark for other such crimes in the region.