By PAVEL BAILEY
A SECURITY manager testified yesterday in the ongoing trial of a former employee of Solomon’s Fresh Market, who is accused of stealing $342.50 worth of groceries.
Vashnique Rolle, 28, of Pinewood Gardens, is on trial before Senior Magistrate Samuel McKinney.
The prosecution alleges that on November 17, 2021, Rolle, while working at the cash register at the store’s Harbour Bay location, was caught on surveillance video stealing hundreds of dollars worth of groceries.
The security and investigations manager at AML, Darrell Mitchell told the court that he recognised Rolle as a former employee at Solomon’s Fresh Market.
He said at 7pm on the day of the incident he reviewed security footage of the accused at her cashier station, scanning items that were not properly rung up.
These items observed in surveillance footage matched items that were recorded as unpaid for in official reports detailing all of Rolle’s transactions. Mr Mitchell indicated that Solomon’s system never deleted any transaction at a point of service (POS) station. This allowed Solomon’s to calculate the loss of the stolen item to be $342.50 by cross referencing the stolen items to its counterparts still in stock.
Both the surveillance footage and the official report were shown to the court and entered into evidence.
Rolle’s attorney, Alleecia Delancy, during her cross-examination disputed the contradiction between the surveillance footage and the cashier system. She then put it to Mr Mitchell that those systems were malfunctioning and that they were at fault and not Rolle. Rolle’s attorney also alleged that her client had clearly swiped her card to activate the stem despite Mr Mitchell’s claim that she had not, resulting in the theft.
Ms Delancy also called into question Mr Mitchell’s earlier claim that one of the two men in surveillance footage at the time of the incident was Gilbert Lloyd. She said the man in the footage in a grey shirt and khakis is black whereas Mr Lloyd is a Caucasian.
She told Mr Mitchell that the man in the footage was not Mr Lloyd, who has a charge account with Solomon’s, but his chef and a signatory on the account to which Mr Mitchell agreed.
She further suggested that the second man with dreadlocks is responsible for the theft of items in a second cart as the security footage showed that he had blocked Rolle’s view of the second cart during the incident.
In her closing arguments Ms Delancy said five other employees were let go from Solomon’s that week. After Mr Mitchell confirmed this, she said another employee from the same register as Rolle was also let go at that time, arguing it was a system error that was at fault both times.
After this, the prosecutor Inspector Timothy Bain closed his case.
Rolle’s case was adjourned to May 2 for her counsel’s no case submission.
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