And in brighter police news, the police commissioner played Southside Santa after a Krooman Scrooge set fire to a family home in the Collet area.
We told you that on Sunday, a family in the Krooman Lagoon area were chopped with machetes and their home burnt down. They have been pleading for assistance from the public and the ComPol has come to their aid with his Santa sack filled with plywood and zinc sheets for them to rebuild. We met up with the ComPol as he handed over the materials to the family. Courtney Menzies has this story:
The Singh/Itza family endured a traumatic series of events on Sunday, starting with being chopped by members of the notorious MS13 gang and then having their house lit on fire by these men. While no one was fatally injured, the family lost everything they owned and are now starting from scratch.
And after this violent spree, the ComPol went into the Krooman Lagoon area to ensure constant police presence. But his goodwill didn't end there, because he had secured materials for the family to start rebuilding a new home.
Chester Williams - Commissioner of Police
"We are in the Christmas season and Christmas is a time for caring, loving, and sharing and so I reached out to some business people particularly Benny's, Wood Depot, and Banana Enterprise and I requested them to assist me to give a donation to Mr Itza's family to commence reconstruction of a new home and I must say quickly, both business places agreed to join me in this endeavor and so with that I was able to secure 12 half inch plywood from Banana Enterprise, ten 14 foot zinc from Benny's, and twenty piece of 2X4 from Wood Depot and so today I'm going to donate that to Mr Itza's to see how he can commence reconstruction of a new home for his family."
And he's hoping this donation will start a flood of assistance in fixing up the Krooman area, whose residents are living in swamps and walking on rickety London Bridges.
But the victims of the heinous crimes over the weekend say that while they called the area their home, they're not sticking around to see if help will come.
Freddy Itza - Fire Victim
"We were talking about it and we were thinking about the kids first, we don't want to go back there and put their lives in jeopardy so we were finding other solutions where to go and myself as well doesn't want to get in trouble because I'm not a person as what they are. When I got the call this morning about the materials, I said well, from there, with joy in my heart as well as my common-law with these materials from the commissioner as well, thank you, from there that's the start for us. My common-law wife's mother had a land in 8 miles but it needs filling first so I'm trying to get someone to assist us to fill in the land first and then move in from there. We have already received many clothes and we're looking more for household material and land fill for the land or something like that."
And not even ten minutes after Itza's interview, the ComPol swooped in to secure that filling for them.
Chester Williams
"I have contacted Mr Imer Hernandez and he have agreed to do the filling of that land for Mr Itza."
Reporter
"Have you secured a timeline as to when the filling will be done?"
Chester Williams
"Well either over the weekend or next week."
But they've still got a long way to go and if you would like to assist this family, you can contact them at 629-4018 or 621-1713.
