.jpg)
So said garment vendor Dhanmattie Persaud, who occupies a spot at the south-eastern corner of the facility, literally next door to the Kitty Police Station. She said that shortly after midnight last Sunday, as she and her family slept in the comfort of their Thomas Street, Kitty home — a short distance away from the market — a burglar broke into and totally ‘cleaned out’ her stall.
Her family was completely unaware of its misfortune until approximately 8:30 hrs yesterday morning, when a colleague stall holder arrived at work, saw what had happened, and relayed the situation to her by telephone.
On learning of her predicament, Persaud hurried down to the market only to find her stall “cleaned out”, and hangers and cardboard containers of no value strewn about the floor.
She quantified her losses at exceeding $200,000, – comprising mainly clothing, cosmetics, shoes, and to a lesser extent wares, which she displayed on racks.
Persaud said that persons in close proximity to the Kitty Market recalled that, shortly after midnight on Sunday, (at about 01:30hrs.), they had observed a man leaving the market with “a well packed bag”, heading towards Shell Road, Kitty. Suspicious, they had begun looking around, and had discovered that the north western entrance to the market had been “kicked down” and the market had been broken into.
They had also observed that the lone security guard who worked outside the market at nights did not work the Saturday night/Sunday morning shift, leaving the market unprotected.
Vendors said a report had been made to the Kitty police immediately after the man had been spotted leaving the market, but the rank who had taken the report had said that Kitty Police Station could not respond to the call, because there was nobody to dispatch to the scene at the time.
It was not until around 9:00hrs on Monday, when Persaud personally lodged a report at the Kitty Police Station, that ranks visited the crime scene. The woman and her husband said that the person or persons who had committed the crime had probably entered the market through the top floor of the building, which is abandoned and in a state of disrepair.
Persaud said the intruder had to break about four big padlocks off her stall to be able to access the goods.
Asked if fingerprints had been taken, the couple said the police informed them that no fingerprints could be taken because surfaces on the stall were ‘too rough’. However, the ranks did not elaborate on the meaning of their statement.
Persons in the vicinity are adamant that the Council is clearly taking no interest in the Kitty Market. They say the municipality’s only activity undertaken at the market is collection of stall holders’ fees.
Despite the myriad problems being faced by stallholders on an ongoing basis, there is one single rank based at the Clerk’s Office on working days. His sole function is to collect money from the stall – holders, who claim that, on an average day, their cash sales can scarcely ‘buy pholourie’.
That apart, conditions at the market are deplorable, stall holders say; that whenever it rains, water from the broken and condemned upper floor, cascades on whoever is below. But even worse are the electrical dangers to which they are exposed, since electrical connections are also drenched by the water.
Stall holders who have been painfully enduring such hardships for several years are now asking the City Council to come to their rescue. They are suggesting that Council remove the top of the building, which now serves no purpose; refurbish and cover the bottom with aluminum sheets, so as to allow them some degree of comfort; and enhance the security of their businesses and their persons.
