TWO MEN ARE expected to appear in court today in relation to what police say is a breakthrough into a spate of crop thefts.
Forty-one-year-old Ian Emmerson Bennett and 52-year-old Seymour Dacosta Inniss, both of Cliff, St John have been accused of stealing sweet potatoes from Egdecumbe Plantation and Armag Farms last year.
Bennett has been charged with
· Theft of twenty rods of sweet potatoes between April 5 and 21, 2015;
· Theft of twenty-five pounds of sweet potatoes on April 22, 2015;
· Theft of twenty rods of sweet potatoes sometime between April 23 and 24, 2015;
· Theft of six rods of sweet potatoes sometime between September 2 and 3, 2015 and
· Theft of twenty rods of sweet potatoes on October 23, 2015.
Inniss has been charged with
· Theft of five rods of sweet potatoes sometime between April 23 and 24, 2015
· Theft of ten rods of sweet potatoes sometime between July 9 and 10, 2015.
· Theft of eight rods of sweet potatoes sometime between December 14 and 16, 2015.
Meanwhile, Yvette May Butcher, 48, of Chapel No. 1, St. Philip has been charged with the offence of “No Certificate of Purchase” after 178 kilogrammes (391.6 pounds) of potatoes were allegedly found in her possession on the April 8, 2016.
Police say they were carrying out investigations into crop thefts and executed a search warrant at Butcher’s residence. The search revealed the sweet potatoes and further investigations revealed that she reportedly did not have a certificate of purchase or receipt for the potatoes.
Bennett, Inniss and Butcher are expected to appear at the District C Magistrates Court on April 11, 2016. (PR/NB)