Forestry workers robbed at Flower Pot beach

FORESTRY workers are calling on the police for increased patrols in the Pointe-a-Pierre area near Flower Pot beach, after several of them were robbed on Wednesday.

The workers, hired by a contractor under the Forestry Division to beautify the area, are also warning beachgoers to beware of the bandits, who are armed with cutlasses and guns.

One worker said the assailants waited until the majority of workers left before pouncing on their targets.

One of the victims, an elderly woman, said she was never so afraid.

She said she and another worker were going to take a quick wash after finishing their task.

“We saw about three or four men running towards us, shouting, ‘Robbery, robbery.’

“They told us, ‘Don’t move, don’t move.’ One of them looked at me and said, ’Tantie, give me your bag'.

“They grabbed my bag, pulled off my two rings.

“I was so frightened I started to pray. They tried to pull off my chain, but when they hear me calling, ’Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,’ they left me and run down the track.”

One of her co-workers said when he saw the men approaching, he first thought they were hunters because they had cutlasses and guns.

“They tell us don’t run, but I don’t think I had a choice.”

He said he ran, leaving the women behind, for which he apologised.

“When we run they get at she,” he said pointing to his colleague.

“They rob she and other people get rob too.

“We can’t be keeping this place so nice and clean and making track for ‘gouti to run. Police have to come here every day. They just pass to see who wearing mask,, but they have to come and patrol down here or close off the beach.”