THE MAN picked up by police after five teenagers were found at his home said he did not know they were missing.
The sno-cone vendor known as “Country”, of Sobers Lane, The City, said he was innocent to anything the public was accusing him of in relation to the girls.
Last Saturday, police put out a missing bulletin for the four 14-year-olds and 15-year-old schoolmates who had not returned home since Friday.
Hours later, the group was taken from the house of the vendor, but he said they reached there only 30 minutes before the police’s arrival.
“Country”, who declined to give his legal name, explained that he knew one of the girls well because of her parents and other relatives, one of whom lived in the district. That girl, he added, would also greet him in the van stand where he sells his sno-cones.
“I leave here on Saturday evening and when I come back, I saw [her] sitting down here with some other friends. I open the door and they say they want some juice. I tell them go and get it and I sit down here eating some food. They ask for some of my food and I end up giving them some,” he told the DAILY NATION.
While the girls did that, some customers, including two brothers, came by to pay for syrup and as they did so, the police arrived 30 minutes later, “Country” explained. The officers appeared offended by the attitude of the brothers and placed them in custody, he said.
The man explained that the lawmen also spoke with him and he said the girls were inside eating.
“I opened the door and let them pass. They bring down the girls and say they got to carry me along. But I hear everybody say they sleep here but this time I didn’t even know they missing. I tell the police that if I had even known they were missing, I woulda call the police,” he said.
As a result, “Country” said he spent Saturday and Sunday night in custody giving a statement before he was released yesterday around 7 a.m.
“I went and give the police a statement and one policeman that use to buy from me from when he was at Parkinson, say I telling lies. But I tell he if I say anything else that would be lies. They kept me over two nights but I ain’t dig nothing,” the vendor added.
He said he believed he was released because his statement corresponded with what the girls were saying and that cleared him.
Meanwhile, the five girls appeared in court yesterday charged with wandering and were remanded to the Government Industrial School to appear in Juvenile Court tomorrow.
