At the Hell Esso service station in West Bay, employees have seen their fair share of characters who do unbelievable things, but no one has come close to Alvin Shaquille Ebanks, a frequent customer who was convicted last week of robbing the business with a toy gun.
The robbery happened on 15 Dec., minutes before the gas station was to close.
“I was pumping some gas and talking with the customer, when I heard a loud engine revving sound, then sharp brakes right here in the front by the door,” one service station attendant told the Compass . “I didn’t think much of it because we have a lot of mad people who do that kinda thing every day, so I didn’t even bother to look around.”
But over the next two minutes, the attendant, who the Compass is not naming, became one of several witnesses to a colleague being forced to hand over the store’s petty cash.
“It was late, and the cashier was closing out; that’s when the first one jumped out the car and ran inside and said ‘Gimme da money’. I couldn’t see wha’ was going on but I could hear it; then I heard when the cash pan got turned up and coins was flying everywhere,” he said.
CCTV video used to help convict Ebanks during the court proceedings showed the main robber struggling with the cashier for a few seconds before hitting him with the toy gun, causing it to break apart.
While this was transpiring, the second robber held the door open to prevent them from getting trapped inside since the cashier could remotely lock it.
Eventually, the main robber grabbed what little cash he could and then both men ran out, jumped in the getaway car, and sped away.
But they didn’t quite make as clean a getaway as they had thought.
Car was easily recognisable
“As soon as he arrived and started circling the parking lot, we knew exactly whose car it was,” the attendant said. “It was Shaq’s car. He is a regular customer and comes here to buy gas three, four times a day. Every time he puts a lil five dollars here, a lil five dollars there.”
Not only did Ebanks drive his own car, which was well known to the gas station’s employees, to commit the robbery, but days before the incident, he was seen wearing the same full-face blue-and-black mask he wore during the robbery, and the toy gun he used to commit the crime was observed on the back seat of his car.
“He came in wearing the same full face mask a couple days before the robbery and we didn’t think anything of it because of the whole COVID situation,” he said. “So even though we couldn’t see his face during the robbery, we knew automatically that it was him. Man, he didn’t try to change up his voice during the robbery.”
The employees were so sure that Ebanks was the robber that they directed police to him, and, in a matter of hours, officers were at his door to take him into custody.
During the trial, the pump attendant testified that Ebanks’ car was so unique it would be impossible to confuse it with another car, no matter how similar they might be.
Taking the stand in his own defence, Ebanks told the jury that on the night in question, he was at home eating, watching TV with his girlfriend and taking occasional smoke breaks – before making a run for it to hide an ounce of ganja when police showed up suddenly at his house.
However, the jury didn’t accept his version of events and returned unanimous guilty verdicts on one count of robbery and another count of possession of an imitation firearm.
“I don’t feel sorry for him. He don’t want to work like everybody else; he just want the fast life,” the employee said. “Well, see wha’ fast life get him – prison. That will teach him to cool out.”
Swift action brought results
At the time of the robbery, Cayman saw a rise in reports of offences of a similar nature. During 2022, 47 armed robberies were recorded, the most for such crimes in a decade and the third-most active year in recorded history.
In an attempt to reassure the public, the RCiPS flooded the streets with officers, increasing overt and covert policing while stationing armed officers at traffic roadblocks.
The heavy-handed approach seems to have worked, with no robberies reported during the Christmas season. Ebanks was arrested within a few hours of the robbery, charged within weeks, and convicted within a matter of months.
He has been remanded in custody as he awaits sentencing.
The second robber of the Hell Esso was never identified and remains at large. His face was hidden with a white shirt wrapped and tied around his head, leaving only his eyes exposed.
Police are encouraging anyone who knows the identity of the second robber or have details about any other incident to come forward with the information which can be submitted confidentially by calling the RCIPS Tip Line at 949-7777 or through the Cayman Crime Stoppers website.
Related Videos
