Weekend robberies hit Tobago businesses

According to reports, at about 11 pm on Saturday night, two armed, masked men entered Bago’s Beach Bar where proprietor, Shirley Cooke, her husband and a friend were about to close the business for the day.

The robbers reportedly demanded money and started beating Cooke’s husband and their friend while she escaped and ran towards the Golden Star Entertainment Centre to get help.

One of the men reportedly chased her and managed to get her purse with the day’s proceedings after she had fallen.

She was subsequently able to attract some attention, however, and the men fled the scene in an awaiting car.

Cooke reportedly used her cell phone to contact the Crown Point Police Station which summoned the EHS in Scarborough to transport her friend who had sustained a chop wound to the head during the ordeal.

He was rushed to the Scarborough Regional Hospital by a relative before the ambulance arrived some 30 minutes later. He received seven stitches and is said to be resting at the hospital.

Cooke told Newsday this was the seventh time that she had been robbed since returning to Tobago four years ago.

She said the situation in Tobago was getting worse and, from her experience on Saturday night, the relevant authorities were not sympathetic towards victims.

“It is ironic that I am a returning citizen and it has not been easy for me since I came back. I can no longer recommend coming back home to anyone who is living abroad. I felt like I was in Baghdad trying to get away from a bad experience and there is no one to turn to for help,” Cooke said.

Meanwhile, officers of the Scarborough CID are investigating a robbery at the Church’s Chicken outlet in Scarborough on Friday night, where two men reportedly escaped with more than $20,000.

Reports are that the men, wearing masks and armed with cutlasses, entered the outlet at 11.45 pm, when the business was about to close for the day, and accosted the female supervisor.

They reportedly dealt the frightened woman several blows before taking the money and escaping on foot in the Botanical Gardens behind the business.

The supervisor was said to have sustained minor injuries.