By PAUL G TURNQUEST

Chief Reporter

pturnquest@tribunemedia.net

PINEWOOD MP Khaalis Rolle cried shame on thieves who stole a truck load of furniture that was destined for the Old Folks’ Home from his “constituency giveaway” on Saturday morning.

The truck load was a part of a consignment of four 40 foot containers of furniture and other goods that had been arranged by the Minister of State for Investments for his annual Christmas children’s party which was held on the park in Pinewood.

While the event in general was a “tremendous success” in its own right, Mr Rolle said he is still disappointed that some unscrupulous individuals would take advantage of such a situation to run off with the furniture that was destined for the Old Folks Home.

“They volunteered to deliver the furniture to the Old Folks Home, and instead of taking it there they were seen headed up Charles Saunders Highway. There were about seven or eight trucks lining up to take furniture to any number of locations. But when the ladies from the Old Folks home came back to the park to say that the furniture never made it there I was shocked! When I inquired they said there was a white truck that left to take the furniture; then someone said they saw that truck headed up Charles Saunders Highway.”

At that moment, Mr Rolle said all he could feel was a sense of “bewilderment” as he tried to wrap his brain around the concept that someone would be so inconsiderate as to essentially steal from the Old Folks Home.

“If you are to take for granted small incidents like this, there is absolutely no way we are going to solve the crime problem in this country if decent people don’t step up to the plate to help solve the problem. We had a good community event and someone took advantage of it. That is the root cause of the problem, people not being considerate and taking advantage of the situation.”

While on the issue of crime in his community, Mr Rolle also highlighted that the Christmas tree that his wife donated to the Pinewood constituency office was also stolen over the holiday season.

“As much as crime has become an issue it is still a community issue. When people can commit those types of acts, when this is something designed for the community’s enjoyment and someone can steal the damn Christmas tree – interestingly enough, when they stole the Christmas tree, one of the guys who works for me saw them on East Street south with the Christmas tree strapped to the roof of their car. He stopped them and told them to take it back and they took it back, but stole it again that night.

“But this was my wife’s Christmas tree that she bought when we got married. This was the artificial Christmas tree that we have had for more than 10 years.”

As for the thieves who stole the furniture on Saturday, Mr Rolle said he will give them until the end of the week to have the goods delivered to the Old Folks Home. He said they can do so anonymously if they wish. However, failure to do so, he warned will result in them being exposed.