Francine Black, Staff Reporter

Every month, for the past three months, $5,000 has been withdrawn from a security guard's pay cheque as payment for a robbery on a premises he was guarding.

The guard says he is not guilty of the crime and wants back the money.

Devon Richards, the security guard who worked at Jacob's Ladder Mustard Seed Community which is being built in Moneague, St. Ann, said although the police have not charged him or fingered him as part of the robbery, his bosses have fired him and refused to return the money.

Richards said about 12:15 a.m. on Wednesday, March 14, he did his regular patrols of the four-acre property using a flashlight, as there was no electricity, and returned to the entrance to sit on a stool. "That's when dem jook mi wid a gun and say weh mi a do here ... ," he said.

He said the gunmen subsequently tied him up with rope and tape and robbed him of his cellular phone, bicycle and $800. Richards said the gunmen then went to the building on the property where they removed items and placed them inside a truck which they signalled to enter the grounds.

He said the gunmen then left the property. "Afterwards, I rassle and pull miself and ran half mile to the nearest house, wake up the lady and she call the police who came later on," he said.

He said two standing refrigerators, a Honda Gas Delco, tiles, toilet bowls, face basins and an electric saw, a water heater, four wheelchairs, and a tool box with tools valued at $284,300 were stolen.

He noted that the police carried out investigations after the robbery, but a few days later he received a memorandum from his bosses which stated that he had been warned previously about his "negligent action". The letter further stated, "because of your negligence, $5,000 will be deducted from your salary each month, pending an investigation by the police and more action will be taken as soon as the investigation is over," the letter said.

No suspects

The police say the investigations are not complete and no suspects have been arrested. The police also say that a man is currently in custody on an illegal gun charge and is being investigated for possible links to the robbery.

The investigating officer also told THE STAR that there was no strong evidence to suggest that Richards was involved in the robbery.

However, Richards said he was fired on June 18 while the investigation was still going on. The termination letter stated that there were frequent break-ins and material was being taken from the property without permission.

But Richards said he was not instructed to sign out material leaving the grounds and another employee took those materials. "Dem give mi two book when I was working there, one to record vehicle coming in and out of the grounds and the time, and clock in and out each day," he said.

He also said there were no frequent break-ins, only one other which occurred when he was not on duty, but because he was scheduled to work, both himself and the other security guard were penalised by the organisation which deducted $13,000 each from both their salaries to replace the stolen pieces of fence.

He said the bosses fired him based purely on hearsay, as they could not produce any evidence or anyone who could substantiate the claims against him.

When contacted, Jack Samuel, administrator of the Mustard Seed Community, said that they "had explained to him what our position was and he refused to accept it."

He, however, did not say what exactly was "their position" and referred the news team to the personnel manager who he said was out of office.