What was supposed to be a fun birthday celebration on Christmas Day turned into a traumatising event for 28-year-old Akeisha Blair and her seven-year-old son after two men on XR motorcycles snatched her purse while she was heading home.
Blair told the News Room on Tuesday that her son wanted to visit the Christmas village on Main Street for his birthday and she happily obliged.
The woman said she took a bus to GR’s Taxi Service on Vlissingen Road with hopes of getting a taxi to take her to Pike Street, Kitty but none was available at the time. She then opted to walk down the road with her son at around 18:15hrs.
“My son said let us walk and because it was so lonely and no cars were running, I said let us walk and while we were walking through the street, just before we reached the American School, two guys rode up an XR motorcycle and stopped.”
The scared woman recounted that one of the men, who appeared to have a gun, snatched her purse and was preparing to search her when her son started to scream.
“My son holler and start shake and I told them ‘ow man, is Christmas Day, leave we alone, how y’all gon do this to we?’
“But then I saw one of them reach to his pocket and it look like he was about to take out a gun, so I start shake and my son screamed louder, then they rode off,” the woman relayed.
With no help in sight, Blair stood in a state of shock in the dark street until an off-duty officer who came to her aid. She was taken to the Prashad Nagar Police Station where a report was made.
“The officer spent a lot of time talking to my son because he was still screaming and shaking, he was so traumatised,” she continued.
The bandits were dressed in multi-coloured shirts and pants; they sported only face masks. And the woman had little in her purse – just her cellphone and $2,500.
She urged others “to be vigilant” during the season. The News Room has confirmed with ranks at the Prashad Nagar Police Station that a report was made about the incident.
