Brothers jailed for daylight robbery

Ansumana Jabatie, 29, and Joseph Jabatie, 27, both of Thackeray Road, Larkfield, Kent, were brought to justice following a lengthy and painstaking investigation by Rother CID.

On Friday, October 29, Ansumana, who pleaded guilty to robbery, was sentenced to three years and nine months imprisonment. Joseph denied a similar charge, but was found guilty and sentenced to five years in jail.

Following their appearance in court, Detective Inspector Ian Williams, who led the police investigation, described what had happened and how he and his officers had finally tracked them down.

DI Williams said: “The robbery took place in broad daylight just before 1pm on December 29 last year after the hotelier had withdrawn money from Barclays Bank in Devonshire Road, in order to pay her staff for their work over Christmas.

“She left the bank with £2,500 in a carrier bag, and stopped at a couple of shops.

“As she walked along the street she suddenly felt the bag being pulled forcefully away, and turned to see a man running away with it.

“She shouted for help, and several people heard or saw the incident.”

DI Williams said the thief had run a short distance before jumping into the passenger seat of a silver Rover car, registration W136 RBK, which witnesses had noted before it sped away.

Police were also given a description of the offender seen running to the car - a black man, aged in his 20s, wearing a long, dark-coloured overcoat. Because the car was being driven by an accomplice, police immediately realised two suspects were involved.

DI Williams said: “This was a complex case to investigate with various misleading accounts given by the offenders. However, my team was able to disprove these and in the end the evidence against the brothers was overwhelming.”

DIWilliams said officers had even used facial mapping techniques to prove that images captured on closed circuit television cameras were those of the offenders.

He added: “The respective sentences - Ansumana’s was reduced in recognition of his guilty plea - send out a clear message that robbery is viewed as a serious crime and anyone convicted can expect to be sent to prison.

“Rother has low numbers of such offences and we currently have an excellent detection rate for this type of crime, which should serve as a warning to others.”

Both the Jabatie brothers have previous convictions, including a joint conviction for robbery in 2006 for which each man was sentenced to six years imprisonment.

DI Williams also revealed that earlier this year Ansumana Jabatie had been sentenced to eight months’ imprisonment for an incident on February 1 in which he snatched a bag containing cash from a person emerging from a bank in Bexley, Kent.

He admitted the offence.