A 26-year-old man was sentenced, Monday evening October 28 in Guadeloupe, to “18 months in prison including 6 months suspended” following the looting that occurred in Pointe-à-Pitre during the widespread power outage which affected the archipelago, we learned from the prosecution. He will have “the obligation to reimburse the civil parties, the obligation to work, and will be under an electronic bracelet”Caroline Calbo, public prosecutor of Pointe-à-Pitre, told AFP on Monday evening.
The young man had stolen items from a telephone store and “was arrested after having scattered the loot along his route when he saw that he was being pursued by the police”according to the same source. While he “had also to be tried for previous traffic offenses, we grouped the files”said Ms. Calbo. Placement under an electronic bracelet has been decided “because the Basse-Terre remand center is 245% overcrowded, due to particularly high delinquency in Guadeloupe”according to the same source.
During the night from Friday to Saturday, eleven businesses were looted in Pointe-à-Pitre, while Guadeloupe was deprived of electricity following a «sabotage» on the engines of the Jarry power station, according to the authorities, against a backdrop of social conflict within EDF-PEI. Three jewelry stores had been attacked with two backhoe loaders and “police officers [avaient] were targeted by shooting three times in the town”without causing any injuries, the prosecution also indicated. Furthermore, several dams, often in flames, had been erected in Pointe-à-Pitre, Les Abymes, Baie-Mahault, Le Lamentin, Le Moule, Morne-à-L'Eau and Sainte-Anne.
