Gas station robber ‘regrets’ crime

Tishawn Jaden Clarke has pleaded guilty to stealing $44 185.32 from an Eagle Hall Service Station, telling police he regretted his role in the robbery.

Clarke, of Upper Crescent, Gall Hill, Christ Church, admitted stealing the money from Petroleum Solutions Limited on February 12, 2023, when he appeared before Justice Elwood Watts in the No. 2A Supreme Court.

State Counsel Dr Zoe King, who prosecuted, said a security guard at the Rubis Service Station in Eagle Hall was monitoring the shift handover between cashiers when two men entered the service station.

They were identically dressed in black clothing and wore black ski masks covering their faces. One wore a black helmet and the other a purple helmet. They stood near the staff area door.

The men told the guard they were looking for a man who worked at the service station, and that he had just entered the building, and had gone to the back. He told them that nothing like that had happened and that no one had just gone into the back, but the men insisted.

The guard went into the staff area and then the storage room but saw no one. The two men followed and quickly entered the management office. In less than a minute, they emerged, with one man holding two grey money bags. They then ran through the emergency exit.

Police were contacted, and investigators later identified Clarke.

During his electronically recorded interview on March 18, 2023, he told officers: “I was one of the persons that took the money from the gas station.” He also identified the purple helmet, found outside the service station by police, as the one he was wearing on the day of the robbery.

After he was formally charged, Clarke said: “I so sorry ‘bout this here. If I coulda turn back time, this would never happen.”

A pre-sentence report was ordered, and the case was adjourned until December 2.

Clarke is self-represented.

(JB)