A quiet evening picking “fat pokes (or pork)” – a local fruit – on Sandy Beach, Vieux Fort and ‘catching up’ with a best friend is nothing new for a young woman.
But on Wednesday evening, May 14, that peaceful moment was disturbed abruptly when the young woman and her best friend – a male – were robbed at gunpoint by two “nervous” young hoodlums.
The woman, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Saint. Lucia News Online (SNO) in an exclusive interview that spending time on Sandy Beach is a hobby.
“I was by the beach about 5:15 p.m. I usually go there to pick fat pokes since I love them. I usually go there with my best friend where we walk all around and we would sit there and chat,” she said.
“When we were going to pick the fruits, I saw these two young guys passing like all the others. I always pay attention to my surroundings so I took a good look at them as they studied the jeep, so I told my friend to go and lock the jeep and get the keys out which he did,” she explained.
“We picked to our hearts content because I enjoy picking. Other vehicles came and did the same, stayed there and left. We usually talk because he is my mentor and he helps with my assignments and all. We were there talking [in the vehicle], facing the Fort,” she said.
About an hour later, the tranquility was broken with the voice of a young man.
“I just heard ‘give me your money. Hurry up, pass it,’” she told SNO.
The robbery was underway.
“One went to the driver’s side and the other on my side. I told him I know that the gun is fake and I know him. I tried opening the door to knock him so I could get out. I know if I was let out I could have attacked him. They were not big,” she noted.
The victim said the gun appeared to be a toy, but they still complied with the demands of the robbers – albeit with some hesitance.
“And I looked into the gun and saw it was empty. I could have seen a light through it. I have an interest in guns so I studied it before. It was empty. And even when the other guy said shoot and he cranked it I knew (it was fake or empty). I told him I knew and I tried opening the door.
“They took my friend’s cash (about $300) and my phone it. It was 6:25 (p.m.). I knew for sure because I took my phone to call my uncle.”
The victim described the incident as “surreal”. Luckily, the couple was not harmed.
She suspected that the robbers were watching them since they arrived on the beach.
“It was just so surreal. I am sure it’s the same guys because the guy who was near me seemed nervous and when I told him I know him, his hands shook. They looked (ages) 17-20 – no older. I am sure.
“I saw the way they looked at the vehicle. They must have planned and came back. There was a guy looking at us right after it was done from his hut not too far away. And as they ran though the plantation, they parted ways, and one ran through the fat poke field and the other went passed another house right through the same field,” she disclosed.
The woman said it was her first time getting robbed. She said Sandy Beach is normally peaceful.
“I have never been robbed. That’s the only place, beach I go just for the fat poke, and take lots of pics with my phone since I’m a nature lover,” she noted.
The whole incident affected her appetite that night.
“I picked the fat pokes and I didn’t eat them. When I got home I left them at the garage,” she said.
Police confirmed the incident and told SNO that on that same day, three other robberies were reported in the south district. A medical student was one of the victims. He sustained a chop wound to one of his legs.
Police theorise that the robberies may have been committed by the same group of persons.
Robberies have taken place over the past few days in Laborie, Micoud and Vieux Fort. There were four armed robberies in Micoud on Saturday, May 10, police said.