Wrongly Named in Pump Attendant Robbery, Bearer Says He Fears for His Life

A 24-year-old bearer and construction worker says his life has been marked by dread since July 8, when an image of him appeared online naming him as one of the men behind the robbery and shooting of a female pump attendant. He maintains he took no part in the crime and was nowhere near the scene — a claim he says video evidence backs up. Although the Jamaica Constabulary Force later took the picture down from its social media accounts, he says the ordeal continues.

“I am afraid because persons are saying that they want to kill mi and I am being threatened by police and so on. I am very fearful for my life because my picture was posted all over the place,” he said.

Soon after the attendant was robbed and shot at a service station on Deanary Road, officers published a collage showing three men, among them this man, and called on them to surrender. A day later, police said two men connected to the case were killed in a security force operation in Spanish Town, St Catherine.

He explained that the image now circulating online was shot outside a bar elsewhere in the Corporate Area several days before the hold-up. In his view, staff at that bar photographed him after robbers hit their premises on the same day the attendant was attacked. On the visit captured in the picture, he had collected winnings from a gaming machine.

“That was the money that I had in my hand in the photo,” he said.

Once he learned his likeness was being shared, he presented himself at the Olympic Gardens Police Station to set the record straight. “One of the police told that they knew it wasn’t me so I should go and trim because the hairstyle let me look like a criminal. I went back home but I still felt wary, so the next morning I went to IPROB (Inspectorate and Professional Standards Oversight Bureau) to make a report. They then contacted Elletson Road police for me. Next thing I know is that another station was contacted and I was locked up at Duhaney Park station for eight days before I was released,” he said.

While in custody, he said fellow detainees menaced him, convinced he had shot the attendant. “But it was a blessing when I went inside and saw someone that I know and he was there defending mi and a say mi a good youth,” he added.

He was later freed on pre-charge bail over reasonable suspicion of wounding with intent and robbery with aggravation. One of the conditions, he said, is that he must check in with the police twice each week.

“I can’t go anywhere and I have lost my jobs. Persons are looking at me like I am a criminal. I will never be a criminal and I am very sorry about what happened to the attendant,” he said.

His sister said the whole household feels marked and under threat. “Some are saying that if they catch him they are going to do him things,” she said. “My brother is sugar coating it but he is very traumatised. He has lost a lot of contracts as a bearer. He is not a criminal and does not have a criminal background and we won’t stand for it. He is just a regular youth that you see every day.”

The family has retained attorney-at-law Kymberli Whitter, who argues her client should never have been put on pre-charge bail once police had determined he was not involved in the robbery. “Pre-charge bail was intended by parliament to facilitate genuine investigations where there are reasonable grounds to suspect an individual of an offence. It was not imposed [to place] months of restrictions on someone who is not a suspect and has been vindicated by a solid alibi,” she said.