BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THIEVES reportedly broke into a container at the St. Christopher Children’s Home in Basseterre late last month and stole a quantity of items from the facility.
In a post on its social media page, the Home indicated that thieves had broken into the container and stole three Mountain Bikes (two males and one female), a 100-foot water hose with attachments, two ceiling fans, a pickaxe, two garden rakes, a black garbage bin, and two five-gallon buckets of off-white satin paint., all of which are “newly-donated gifts for the benefit of the children who reside at the home”.
The post also disclosed that the perpetrators had cut a section of the chain link fence and made off with the items.
It further stated that the Home is working with a budget that is already stretched beyond its limit and it is not financially capable to replace the stolen items. Unfortunately, the post said, management would now have to go back to the community not only to get the stolen items replaced and the fence mended, but also to have additional security at the facility.
Speaking with a senior administrative member of the Home this morning (Apr. 11), SKNVibes was told that some children at the facility had found the container broken into on Thursday (Mar. 31) and, after making a thorough check sometime later, the items were discovered missing.
This media house was also told that the matter was immediately reported to the police but the “Home’s Board of Directors and the Administrator are still waiting days later for a formal investigation to be initiated”.
A disheartened Margaret Stevens, the Home’s Administrator, was quoted in the post as saying: ‘It breaks my heart that someone from right here in our community would rob children, children that are in the most need of support from the greater Kittitian Community.’
The post also said, "For more than 65 years the St. Christopher Children’s Home has been providing shelter, food, clothing and healthcare to children in need. Not only has the Home served as a residence for children without an official guardian, it has also been a safe place for children who have been victims of physical and/or sexual abuse. The need to protect these children is real; to provide them opportunities when everyone else has shut them out. It is absolutely appalling that someone would take advantage of the most vulnerable residents in our community."
