A 28-year-old man resident at 12 Street, Canefield, has bagged a month prison term for trespassing on Chinese property. Akim Vaughn Smith was caught by security guards after he went into the residence of Chinese nationals at the Hunan Construction Company on Windsor Park Road in Roseau. He was charged to court before Magistrate Michael Laudat and got a one month prison sentence.
According to police reports, Smith was on August 23 seen opening the security gate to the Chinese residence by a security guard. The guard accosted him but he fled towards River Street and hid within the vicinity of the Chinese property. Much later in the day, other security guards saw Smith wandering around the house, and thinking he was a burglar, they chased and caught him.
The Chinese citizens in the house notified the police and on arrival, Smith told policemen that he came in search of water to drink. “Water I come and drink inside there wii, I doh know what they hold me for,” he insisted.
Suspecting that he was a burglar, the police arrested and charged him to court. Smith insisted he only entered the house to get water to drink, and unconvinced with his excuses, Magistrate Laudat sentenced him to one month imprisonment at the Dominica State Prison.
A video had surfaced showing a man being bundled into the property of the Hunan Construction Company. People argued that it was a kidnap situation but it later emerged that it could have been Akim Smith. This raised protests on social media on the way he was handled. A family member condemned the fact that Smith trespassed on the Chinese property, but equally condemned the way he was handled.
“I know he was wrong for entering the Chinese people area but the way he was carried inside and tied was not right,” she stated.
Social activist Loftus Durand has also expressed concern on how Smith was handled by his captors in the video.
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