It was high drama last evening on Robb Street when one of two men who allegedly robbed a pharmacy worker at knife-point took the wrong route for his escape and ended up being caught.
Marlon Roopnarine told Stabroek News that he and his girlfriend were walking to get a bus when a man pushed her in the corner while the other held him at knife-point.
“He say only talk I’ll juk you. I just tek the bag and knock he hand away but then is when he grab the band,” Roopnarine said, while showing a small scratch he sustained from the altercation.
“I holla thief and they turn back fo juk me up and I run meet the road head, and a car man come up with a baton and they run in different directions,” he added.
Roopnarine is certain he can recognise the other assailant who made off with a gold band, worth $40,000.
“I see them early in the day. If I see them, I can recognise them,” he said.
The man who was held attempted to make good his escape along Robb Street but that proved to be a tactical error as he was confronted first by two police officers and then by a public-spirited citizen, who stopped him with a handgun.
A witness told Stabroek News that the man, who has been identified as Kevin Alleyne, threatened the two police ranks with a knife.
“I heard a shout of ‘thief, thief’ and saw a man in a white top running along the pave. Two police officers from Police Consumers ran over to him but he pulled out a knife and started brandishing it at them, so they backed away. As he was approaching Republic Bank, a green pickup stopped in the middle of the road and I saw a hand with a small gun point at him,” the witness said.
The occupant of the vehicle directed Alleyne to drop to the ground, then exited his vehicle and put his foot on him.
It was then that Roopnarine arrived at the scene and explained that he had just been robbed by Alleyne, whom he identified by his face and a knife tattoo on his forearm.
As Alleyne lay on the pavement in front of the Republic Bank parking lot, a crowd gathered demanding that he be beaten, while an uncowed Alleyne protested that he had rights.
“I still ga me rights. I still ga me rights,” he shouted, even as he tried to justify possessing the knife, which he attempted to dispose of in a debris-clogged manhole.
“All the time I does walk with me knife. I does always walk wid me knife,” he said.
The crowd, however, was having none of it. “You does always walk wid you knife fo juk people and threaten police, does is wa you does walk wid it fa?” one person shouted, while another demanded that Alleyne, “Shut you mouth, ’fore you get licks fo really mek you sing.”
Soon, ranks from the Brickdam Police Station arrived and arrested Alleyne.
