UPGRADE YOUR SECURITY!
This is the urgent warning from the island’s lead prosecutor to banking institutions after a bank robber confessed to planning a heist based solely on what other inmates were saying about the security arrangements in place at one branch.
Tsungai Vasco Bishop, 24, of Ocean View Road, Spooners Hill, St Michael, confessed to police that while he was in a holding area, he overheard other prisoners talking about “how Barbados National Bank Wildey is the ideal location to rob because of low security”.
He said he later hatched a plan to rob that bank based solely on that information.
When he went inside at 8:55 a.m., he met one security guard and carried out his robbery using a mock gun.
However, it was due to the quick response from police and the civic-mindedness of a customer who saw Bishop and pointed him out to lawmen that the robber was caught within moments and the money recovered.
It was in light of those facts that Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Charles Leacock, QC, called on banks to enhance their security.
“I would expect,” he said, “that since [Bishop] has quite publicly stated that he decided to rob this bank because they publicly discussed that security was lax, that the Barbados National Bank and the other banks will take some [steps] to enhance their security measures and their lack of security will not seek to incite those who are so minded.”
He said the offence was a very grave matter and despite the fact that the weapon used was a toy gun, it had terrified members of the public and tellers of the bank.
“When matters of this nature occur, the impact of crime in a small society, especially in the banking sector where people are lawfully conducting business, is something the court must take into account,” he said, adding it was “fortuitous” that every cent of the money was recovered.
