(Jamaica Star) A St Thomas man who accused police of stealing $200,000 from his home after they searched his property, was proven wrong after he found the money in the same drawer he had been keeping it in.
Richardo Hibberts angrily journeyed to the Seaforth Police Station on Sunday to file a report that lawmen from the Morant Bay Police Station had stolen the money earlier that day.
But, on Tuesday, he realised that the money was right where he left it.
“It was same place in the drawer, but at the back in a legal envelope. I realised this after speaking with aunt. She told me that she put the money in an envelope before,” he said.
But Hibberts said that he does not regret making the report because he is adamant that the police illegally entered his home.
NEIGHBOURS CALLED ME
“I wasn’t at the house and they tear off the windows and went inside the house. They went in the house without me being present. No one was there. They turned the house upside down. My neighbours called me and told me that the police was in my yard. They said they saw the police tearing out my windows,” he said. “They came by my house not even a month before saying they were searching for drugs and gun. Me tell dem them caa come a me house and a search fi drugs and gun and me a nuh gunman. I don’t have a criminal record. I am a registered farmer. So, they came back again and this time I wasn’t there.”
Christopher Banner, a cop at the Seaforth station, said he advised Hibberts to check his home properly before making the report.
“He came back yesterday (Tuesday) morning and him tell me that him find the money. When he came Sunday night, I told him to check first before he make the allegation … you caa just dweet suh and you nuh check. But that is what he said and the report was taken,” Banner said. “These things do happen. People just feel like police come and overstep their boundaries.”
Meanwhile, Deputy Superintendent Fitzroy Williams of the Morant Bay police told THE STAR that an investigation regarding Hibberts’ other claims of property damage is ongoing.
“His report was appreciated and it is being investigated. He made a report that he was away from his house and learnt that the police were at his house,” he said.
