SurePay cashier recalls the day a masked man held her up

On December 13, 2013 SurePay cashier Stacia Williams was working the evening shift at Carlton A1 Supermarket in Black Rock, St Michael when she looked up around 6 p.m. and saw a man wearing black, with a mask, helmet and gloves on his hands.

“He shoved a gun in my face and told me to “put the f…ing phone down . . . So fearing for my life, I put the phone down.

“He put a blue bag through the hole and he told me ‘put the money in it’. What money I had I put in there . . . and he told me to throw the bag to him and I pelt it at him. He put the gun more in my face . . . I drop to the ground.

“I am an asthmatic. I thought I was going to die, my chest started getting tight, I couldn’t breathe. I did not see the person’s face,” Williams who was giving evidence in the trial of Kedar Ondre Holloway said today.

Holloway, of Block 2D Sunnyside Court, Deacon’s Farm, St Michael, is charged with robbing Stacia Williams of $816.17 property of Massy Technologies on December 13, 2013. He pleaded not guilty to the charge this morning and moments later a nine-member jury was selected to hear the case which is presided over by Justice Randall Worrell. Senior Crown Counsel Olivia Davis is the prosecutor in the matter in which seven witnesses are expected to give evidence for the Crown.

Williams was one of four witnesses giving evidence this morning. Another witness was Janice Gooding-Burnett, an accounts clerk at the supermarket who had completed her shopping and was on the outside of the establishment.

“While sitting I saw this tall guy, blue overall, white helmet with visor and red stripes . . .” she told the court adding that soon after she noticed, “all the ladies and kids running outside”. She decided to leave the area and moved to the north side of the supermarket but on getting there she saw a guy on a motorcycle and returned to her previous location.

“I take up my groceries because I say no one not stealing my groceries tonight.

“I saw the guy with his hand through the glass with an object through the glass, it looked like a gun but I am not an expert. I did not see his face,” Gooding-Burnett said in response to questioning in the No. 2 Supreme Court.

Wayne Burnett who was the store manager at Carlton A1 Supermarket during the robbery said he was in the central area of the supermarket around 6:25 p.m. when he heard noises and saw people running and shouting that SurePay had been robbed.

He said he moved to the area and saw Williams “slumped” over the register.

“I noticed she was not injured but knowing that she was asthmatic, I called for the ambulance and the police.”

After ambulance personnel arrived on the scene, they took Williams into another room to do an assessment. Soon after the police arrived.

Burnett said he went back to the SurePay area to find Williams’ belongings and take care of the cash register. “I saw the cash draw opened . . . with only coins . . . and her bank deposit wallet which only had debit and credit card strips of customers.”

He and another employee removed the items and took them to the office. They also did a tally of the Williams’ draw and realised that $816.17 was missing.

A police officer also gave evidence in the case, in which Holloway is representing himself. Hearing was adjourned until 12:45 p.m. tomorrow.