THE TWO men who in July 2016 invaded two tourists’ hotel room and robbed them $40,000 in jewellery and cash while they sleep, were on Wednesday found guilty in a Providenciales court.
Jamal Thompson Missick and Paul Missick were on Wednesday afternoon (May 3) found guilty by a seven member jury, who returned unanimous verdicts on the charge of burglary for both.
Justice Robert Shuster, who presided over the trial in the Supreme Court, ordered a pre-sentencing report be submitted to the court, and the defendants will return for sentencing on May 30.
The trial lasted six days.
Jamal Thompson Missick was represented by attorney-at-law Lara Maroof-Missick and Paul Missick’s defence was handled by Guy Chapman.
The charges were laid against the two men shortly after the shocking robbery against a vacationing couple.
On the day in question, at the Ocean Club East resort in Providenciales, at about 1.58am, one of the victims contacted 911 and reported that two men entered their hotel room and stole over $5,000 in cash, two Rolex watches, along with an engagement ring and IDs.
One victim, Shameka Watson, told the police that one of the culprits was being restrained by her boyfriend, Tyshawn Corbett.
When officers arrived on the scene, the victims pointed to one of the culprits who was unsuccessful in getting away.
Just three days after, police officials announced that the second man, Jamal Missick, turned himself in to police authorities after a nationwide ‘wanted’ poster was issued for his arrest.
In an interview with this publication at the time of the incident both Corbett and Watson expressed disappointment and fear after their ordeal.
Corbett said: “My girlfriend and I were sleeping when I heard someone removing my chain [jewellery] off of the dresser. I woke up. I then saw two guys running out of our room.
“I thought it was a dream, but I just reacted. I chased them outside and I caught one of them, and he had my chain in his hand. I just restrained him until the police came.”
The victim explained that the burglar fought back and that there was a struggle among the two of them.
Corbett added that his girlfriend celebrated her birthday just days ago and that he had plans to propose to her for her birthday, before the robbery happened.
“We are just blessed to be here, because they could have killed us,” Corbett said.
Watson described the situation as “unfair” and said that she was thankful that it did not have a more severe outcome.
She said: “It’s not even the materialistic stuff, because we can get those things back. It is the fact that I haven’t been able to sleep since Saturday, and every time I hear a noise or a sound, I am jumping up.
“I am paranoid. You close your eyes and you think there’s someone standing over you, watching you sleep.
“That’s an unsettling feeling. I will never be able to go to another resort anywhere in the world because of this experience.
“This was supposed to have been an occasion of me to celebrate my birthday, and we weren’t even on the island for four hours before this happened.”
