Leslie McLean, Gleaner Writer
AN ANGRY mob of residents of Harmony Vale and other nearby communities stoned the Claremont Police Station on the weekend, smashing the windows of a police vehicle, and eventually forcing the police to use tear gas to disperse the crowd. The incident was triggered by the refusal of the police to hand over alleged robbers to the hostile crowd.
Reports are that two men went to Sterling Street in Harmony Vale on Saturday night at 9:55 and gained entry to the home of Calvin 'Callo' Poorman, 45, businessman of Harmony Vale, after pouncing on him and his wife, Sherrione, just as they were about to leave for a 'wake' in the nearby district of Ballymony.
The robbers, armed with a Tech 9 submachine gun and a 9mm pistol, demanded money and Sherrione, and her two children ran, leaving Calvin in the hands of the robbers.
Calvin was forced into the house and after it was ransacked, $52,000 worth of Digicel phone cards, his Digicel cellular phone and his billfold containing his driver's licence were taken. The total loss is estimated at $65,000.
The gunmen then threatened to kill Poorman and took him outside, where the one with the Tech 9 pointed it in his direction and tried to fire the gun, but it stuck.
Poorman ran off, heard explosions, but was not hit.
He was taken to the St. Ann's Bay Hospital where he was treated and sent home.
MANHUNT LAUNCHED
Acting on information, the Claremont police, backed by police personnel from St. Ann's Bay and accompanied by civilians, launched a manhunt for the robbers on Sunday morning.
One man, who turned out to be the driver, received four knife wounds to his body but managed to escape and with his cronies in tow, fled to the Prosper Hall main road, near Claremont, where they were held by a police party.
After residents of Harmony Vale, backed by locals from Claremont and surrounding areas, descended on the police station, a demand was made for the robbers to be handed over to them by the police and when the demand was not met, stones were rained on the Claremont Police Station and the glass of one of the police vehicle shattered.
The police retaliated by firing shots into the air and throwing tear gas canisters to disperse the hostile crowd. Many of those tear-gassed sought water to wash their eyes but were unsuccessful as no water was coming from the water pipes at that time of the day.
The stoning of the police station by civilians was the fifth such incident in the past 11 years.
The police eventually managed to take the robbers to the St. Ann's Bay Hospital where two of them were treated for minor injuries and they are expected to face an identification parade some time this week.
Two of them were positively identified by Poorman and all three have been charged for robbery but the guns have not been found.
The police seized three cellular phones from the Toyota Corolla which the robbers used to commit the robbery, and the robbers are said to be from the St. Ann's Bay and Runaway Bay areas. The police believe the three men were the perpetrators behind a series of crimes in St. Ann, including car theft and robbery.
