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On villa villains and victims
Tamara Scott-Williams
Sunday, April 14, 2013
What's the difference between a robbery and a burglary? Whatever the difference, your chances of recovery from either crime depend largely on whether you are a minister of government or not.
For robbery to occur, the perpetrator must take the property from presence of the other person. In practice, the presence requirement means that the taking must occur at some location within a reasonable distance from the victim. If the victim is in one room in a house, and the perpetrator takes property from the victim in another room of the house, the law will still recognise this as robbery. But if the victim is halfway around the world at the time of the taking, the crime will not be robbery.
The villa in Portland which was robbed while National Security Minister Peter Bunting was staying there over the Easter weekend.
BUNTING… now that your vacation is over, can you attend to the rest of us?
Burglary occurs when the perpetrator breaks and enters another person's dwelling with intent to commit a crime. Although the perpetrator must intend to commit a crime inside the dwelling, the crime of burglary is actually in the action of breaking and entering the structure. Common law historically required burglary to occur at night.
Whatever the definitions, it is of little comfort to me, as it should be to every Jamaican, that the case of the Easter weekend escapade has been so quickly solved.
What we know for sure: Our minister of national security Peter Bunting was in San San, Portland on Easter weekend.
After that the story gets a little tricky to keep track of, depending on who you believe. Stay with me here. In a Portland villa, where Bunting may or may not have been staying while visiting one or perhaps two women, one of whom might be an American who may or may not own the villa, a room in the back of the house, which may or may not be the bathroom, was not secured properly and Minister Bunting, who might have been in the company of one or both of the women, was perhaps by the pool, or he may have been out to dinner with one or both or neither of the women, while some intrepid larcenist, robber, burglar, who had eluded the gaze of the minister's security detail who may or may not have been on duty, climbed through the said window and took items which may or may not have belonged to either one of the women or to the minister or to the Government of Jamaica.
We can confirm, however, that the CCN has stated that police worked through the night to recover the stolen items which included an iPhone, a Nokia cellular phone, a gold chain, a silver chain, Vietnamese and US currency and a laptop.
Worked through the night? Hey, I'm still waiting for the police who investigated a robbery that I had at my home many, many, many years ago to figure out that it was an inside job and to tell me how one of the items that was stolen ended up on the "used items" shelf at a local retailer. But I digress.
The break-in/robbery/burglary took place on a Saturday. On Sunday, the items were returned. By Monday suspects were rounded up by the Portland police and on Thursday a Portland man was charged with burglary. When he appeared in court on Friday, the offence was changed to the lesser charge of housebreaking and larceny to which he pleaded guilty and for which he will be sentenced on May 3.
Case closed.
We commend Assistant Commissioner Ealan Powell, head of the Area Two Police, and Deputy Superintendent Wayne Cameron, the officer in charge of the Portland Police Division, for their team's speedy recovery of items and the capture of the alleged perpetrator. We hope that Minister Bunting's friends did not suffer much from the awful violation one experiences after having been robbed, and we hope that the minister (or at least his security team) has learned the necessary lesson about securing one's place of residence and personal items.
But while we tie up Mr Bunting's unfortunate experience in a nice little bundle and pat our policemen on the back for the job well done in catching a thief, we can't help the feeling that the heroic efforts of the police after this Easter escapade serve to remind us all that there are two Jamaicas.
For what of ordinary Jamaicans, who suffer daily from theft and far worse but whose cases can never be closed? Now that your vacation is over, Minister Bunting, can you attend to the rest of us?
scowicomm@gmail.com
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/colum...#ixzz2QqUTVx3L
Tamara Scott-Williams
Sunday, April 14, 2013
What's the difference between a robbery and a burglary? Whatever the difference, your chances of recovery from either crime depend largely on whether you are a minister of government or not.
For robbery to occur, the perpetrator must take the property from presence of the other person. In practice, the presence requirement means that the taking must occur at some location within a reasonable distance from the victim. If the victim is in one room in a house, and the perpetrator takes property from the victim in another room of the house, the law will still recognise this as robbery. But if the victim is halfway around the world at the time of the taking, the crime will not be robbery.
The villa in Portland which was robbed while National Security Minister Peter Bunting was staying there over the Easter weekend.
BUNTING… now that your vacation is over, can you attend to the rest of us?
Burglary occurs when the perpetrator breaks and enters another person's dwelling with intent to commit a crime. Although the perpetrator must intend to commit a crime inside the dwelling, the crime of burglary is actually in the action of breaking and entering the structure. Common law historically required burglary to occur at night.
Whatever the definitions, it is of little comfort to me, as it should be to every Jamaican, that the case of the Easter weekend escapade has been so quickly solved.
What we know for sure: Our minister of national security Peter Bunting was in San San, Portland on Easter weekend.
After that the story gets a little tricky to keep track of, depending on who you believe. Stay with me here. In a Portland villa, where Bunting may or may not have been staying while visiting one or perhaps two women, one of whom might be an American who may or may not own the villa, a room in the back of the house, which may or may not be the bathroom, was not secured properly and Minister Bunting, who might have been in the company of one or both of the women, was perhaps by the pool, or he may have been out to dinner with one or both or neither of the women, while some intrepid larcenist, robber, burglar, who had eluded the gaze of the minister's security detail who may or may not have been on duty, climbed through the said window and took items which may or may not have belonged to either one of the women or to the minister or to the Government of Jamaica.
We can confirm, however, that the CCN has stated that police worked through the night to recover the stolen items which included an iPhone, a Nokia cellular phone, a gold chain, a silver chain, Vietnamese and US currency and a laptop.
Worked through the night? Hey, I'm still waiting for the police who investigated a robbery that I had at my home many, many, many years ago to figure out that it was an inside job and to tell me how one of the items that was stolen ended up on the "used items" shelf at a local retailer. But I digress.
The break-in/robbery/burglary took place on a Saturday. On Sunday, the items were returned. By Monday suspects were rounded up by the Portland police and on Thursday a Portland man was charged with burglary. When he appeared in court on Friday, the offence was changed to the lesser charge of housebreaking and larceny to which he pleaded guilty and for which he will be sentenced on May 3.
Case closed.
We commend Assistant Commissioner Ealan Powell, head of the Area Two Police, and Deputy Superintendent Wayne Cameron, the officer in charge of the Portland Police Division, for their team's speedy recovery of items and the capture of the alleged perpetrator. We hope that Minister Bunting's friends did not suffer much from the awful violation one experiences after having been robbed, and we hope that the minister (or at least his security team) has learned the necessary lesson about securing one's place of residence and personal items.
But while we tie up Mr Bunting's unfortunate experience in a nice little bundle and pat our policemen on the back for the job well done in catching a thief, we can't help the feeling that the heroic efforts of the police after this Easter escapade serve to remind us all that there are two Jamaicas.
For what of ordinary Jamaicans, who suffer daily from theft and far worse but whose cases can never be closed? Now that your vacation is over, Minister Bunting, can you attend to the rest of us?
scowicomm@gmail.com
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/colum...#ixzz2QqUTVx3L