A woman who heard her alarm go off as she backed into her driveway in the Reeves Level-Cedars area around 4:25. p.m. on Wednesday did not immediately realise that a burglar was just fleeing her house.
However, when she checked her cell phone shortly after, she saw the notification that a person had been detected at her home.
She later realised that the thud that she had heard was the burglar jumping over a high balcony and running away as she arrived, triggering the alarm in the house.
The woman, who asked not to be named for security reasons, told iWitness News that the burglar might have taken advantage of a power outage in the area to violate her home.
She shared with iWitness News a short video clip of the burglar leaving her home carrying her bags in which he is believed to have stashed the items that he stole from her home.
She told iWitness News that the siren at the house went off seconds after she reversed into her driveway.
“As I parked and came out of my jeep, I heard the alarm in the patio go off about 10 seconds after,” she explained, adding that the alarm is triggered by motion.
She said that after receiving and clicking on the cell phone notification “person detected at your home” she saw the footage of the man jumping over the balcony, having left the house via the kitchen door.
“The bags all belong to me,” she told iWitness News, referring to the bags that the man was carrying.
The woman said she believed that the burglar entered the house by breaking a window and then squeezing through the burglar bars towards the back of the house.
“I noticed a narrow area. … but it is so small that I am wondering how he fit through it,” she said, adding that none of the doors had been tampered with.
The woman said that one of her neighbours is a police officer, who had driven into his driveway seconds before her.
She alerted the officer, who responded, armed with a gun. The officer searched the bushes in the immediate area and elsewhere in the community but did not locate the burglar.
She said she later realised that the burglar had stolen several items from her house, including a Chromebook and its charger, a JBL speaker, a power bank, a Samsung tablet computer and all her jewellery, including gold chains, a gold bracelet for a baby, and over 100 pairs of earrings made of gold, silver and plastic.
She said that the burglar had exited the house through a door in which she had left the key on the inside of the deadbolt lock but had left his slippers outside the window through which he is believed to have entered.
The woman said she formally reported the burglary to the police who responded after 5 p.m. and she gave them a list of the items that were stolen.
However, the officers did not dust for fingerprints.
She said that when she questioned them about this, they gave a “lame excuse that because several of us usually use the door, it wouldn’t make any sense.
“That is what one individual police officer told me,” she said, adding that the police took the pair of slippers that the burglar is believed to have left outside her window.
There have been reports of a series of burglaries in the Cedars area over the last few weeks and the woman said she knows of five other victims.
“To be honest, I feel unsafe in my own house. I hardly sleep since I have been hearing about these burglaries,” she told iWitness News.
She said she used to be up at night, hardly able to sleep.
“Any little noise I would hear I would get up and look out of the window. I was somewhat not too shocked but was surprised to get home to that at that time of the day. So, it caused me to feel more insecure in my own home,” she told iWitness News.
“Sometimes during the weekend when I am home, I would sleep peacefully during the day but at night, the sleep would not be there. But now, I would not feel safe or secure and I would not feel safe in my house. All night, I am up and the least noise I hear I would just look out wondering what it is,” she said.
Thank the lord you where not hurt or caught him yourself going through your things, shame your next door neighbour police man couldn’t catch his tiefing ….., anyway you have video footage he be caught soon hope you get all your stuff back and maybe some of the other residents who have been burgled get some of their stuff or at least get justice.
Too much going on in saint vincent.
My goodness! How horrible this situation is! I feel for you lady, and the other victims of robbery. The police will have to keep up their vigilance in the Cedars area. Lady, if possible, try not to stay out late, and be extra watchful when you return home at ANY time. You can reinforce your burglar bars in a way that someone cannot squeeze through them. You and your neighbours can keep a sharp lookout for one another. When you are not home, your neighbours can watch your house regularly and vice versa. It’s comforting to know that God promises a New World when wicked ones, including robbers, will be no more. Psalm 37:10,11. There will be peace then when righteous ones will enjoy life forever, never having to worry about anyone breaking in their homes and stealing. Psalm 37:29
These things really , really hard .
Its an open and shut conviction because he was caught with the items in his possession.
Couple years ago someone broke into my home. They gently took out the glass louvers and place it on the ground outside with clear finger prints on it. The cops never took the finger prints. They do this all the time I’m not sure why
How can you feel safe after your house was burglarized. It is akin to being raped and lost your innocence. Neighborhood watch should be implemented. I witness new has just carried a report with respect to an Indian doctor in Ratho Mill in which her house was burglarized. It was alleged that the landlord had not changed the locks after a former tenant left. What a calamity.
:”It takes a thief to catch a thief”. The police don’t to take finger prints, because they know who are stealing and into these houses. they may also be complicit.