Rented by Mary and Peter Enns (the same owners as Mandalay House)
http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p3563291
PLEASE DON’T EVER STAY HERE, for the safety of your family
and the safety of other tourists who visit the Bahamas. My husband and I (two Canadians living
in Boston) stayed at a “newly renovated unit” in ‘Sunset Cove’ between July
16th and July 28th, 2013, for our honeymoon. This vacation property appealed to us
as a locally-owned building outside of (but not far from) the larger resorts,
that would allow us to experience the true culture of the ‘Friendly’ Bahamian
island of New Providence. Here, we
experienced a true and terrifying nightmare, and we continue to do so at the
hands of these property renters. Please
read on if you are considering staying here, but be aware that a very graphic
and disturbing story will be told here.
Please refer to the following articles:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/news-video/video-canadian-honeymooners-robbed-at-gunpoint/article13572105/
I will admit that my husband and I had 11 wonderful days at
this property, despite the unexpected construction occurring on the property
(think 9am pounding on the wall directly opposite our bedroom, and numerous
workers wandering in and around our unit during the day), and non-functional
utilities within the unit (the master bedroom shower was not hooked up, the
clothes dryer was dead, we waited days before cable, phone and internet were
available, missing furniture was placed within the unit during our stay,
etc…). Because the other units in
the building were not ready to be rented, we were essentially isolated in this
unit. These were all things that
the renters had assured us would be negotiable in our fee (not to mention the
fact that they offered a discount for the first positive review on this
property), so we were good sports and went along with our stay.
On Sunday, July 28th at about 1am in the morning,
I awoke to two armed males on either side of our bed. I immediately sat up and asked them what they were
doing. They informed us that they
were armed (I could plainly see the gun in his hand), and that if we
cooperated, we would not be ‘shot today’.
They turned us over onto our stomachs, and taped our mouths, hands, and
feet with duct tape. Keeping a gun
trained on us, they demanded to know where any cash was being kept in the unit,
and any other valuables. Of
course, at gunpoint, we had no choice but to cooperate. We led them to the little cash we had
with us. They tore the place apart and found all valuables, including our
laptops, cell phones, cameras, and jewelery (wedding bands and engagement ring
– with family heirloom diamonds). They
went through our wallets card by card, asking us how much was in each account,
how much could be taken out at a time, and what the codes were (at the repeated
threat of death by gunshot). When
my husband told them repeatedly and honestly that no more than $1000.00 could
be taken in a single day, they threatened to keep us hostage for a number of
days. My husband then told them
“NO, take everything we have here with us, but please leave us here”. After this, they brought my husband into
a separate room, taped his eyes shut, and began violently asking him where any
other valuable property was being kept.
At one point, he felt the tip of the gun being pressed to his temple as
he desperately pleaded with them that there was nothing else. They then came to me in the bedroom and
claimed that they would take him away to the bank to get some money, while I
would be watched by one of their men.
Of course, the first thing that came to my mind was the possibility of
rape. All of this all went on for
about 2 hours. Then, they began to
tie us up with the cords and cables available in the condo. I was hog-tied on the bed; though I
didn’t know it at the time, it was with the cord for my hair dryer and the cord
for the clothes iron. It’s amazing
what goes through your head at a time like this – the water from the iron was
splashing all over my body as they tied me up. My immediate thought was gasoline, and I desperately tried
to smell the substance. They then
placed a towel over my head. My
thoughts included: “are they going to shoot me in the head?; if they shoot me,
will I die right away?; what is it like to die?; how will my family cope with
this?”. (The reason why I include
such traumatic detail will become important later.) The men told us that they were going to leave and try our
cards at the bank, but that they had some men who would stay behind to watch
us. About 20 min of silence passed
before I called out “Hello?”. My
husband was the only one who answered, and we determined that we were alone. I freed myself from my ties, and found
my husband tied to the railing in the hallway. We put on some clothes and ran to the landlords’ home a few
blocks away (for a moment, please try to imagine the terror of first moving
around in the condo, then out the front door, and down the street.. not knowing
whether you are being watched). We
finally reached their house, and knocked and pleaded with them to answer the
door. They did, and we promptly
called the police.
The renters returned to the crime scene with us and waited
for the police to arrive.
Eventually, they came, and conducted an ‘investigation’ (our prevailing
impression of this investigation was that we could have done a better job with
a child’s play kit. After speaking with my father, a real police detective back
home, we learned that the technology used by these officers was over 25 years
behind the times). The husband and
wife renters stood by our sides as we each (separately) gave our accounts of
what happened. During this time,
the police woman informed the wife and I that a similar crime had taken place
about a week and a half earlier in a house just down the street. The wife renter seemed astonished that
this had happened in her neighborhood, and was clearly oblivious to the crime
in the area.
After this, I began to wonder whether we had been targeted
and, if so, who we had met that might have been responsible – the man we rented
the seadoo from, the construction workers on the property, etc.. At this point, I remembered a strange
encounter we had had with an individual at a pub across the street from the
condo building (which, I might add, is still recommended on this advertisement
page). About a week before this
incident, a young man had struck up a conversation with us and, when we were
about to leave the pub, insisted that he would walk us home. We were very concerned with the
behavior of this man, who would not back down about walking us home, so we
approached an older man behind the bar about it. The bartender concluded that he would walk us home in order
to deter the other man; he walked us a few steps down the street and, after
having seen the other man leave, left us on our own. After we had arrived outside our property (a mere few steps
further away), we observed the younger man driving by slowly and watching us
enter the property. We were very
concerned by this, and ran into the apartment, locking all doors behind us. I
told this story to the police woman, and the wife renter and I made sure it was
put into the police report. We
later learned that this older man who walked us home was an off-duty police
officer, who allegedly had taken down the license plate number of this strange
man. We later learned that video
surveillance suggested that this strange man was indeed a perpetrator of our
crime.
Following this grueling re-hashing of the terror we had just
experienced, my husband and I insisted that we go to the most secure hotel on
the island for the next day or two before we could speak with the Canadian embassy
personnel (this incident occurred on a Sunday morning, and the embassy wasn’t
open until Monday). The condo
renters graciously waited until we had packed our things and drove us
there. Not having a credit
card left behind, the husband offered to cover the cost of the room for
us. We arrived there at approximately
7:30AM that Sunday morning, and promptly used every bit of technology available
in the hotel to contact our families, banks, phone companies, places of
employment, the police, the embassy, and anyone else we could think to
call. The husband and wife renters
contacted us and told us they would give us back the payment we had given to
stay in the condo. In return, we
arranged to have all extraneous hotel fees (including over $600 of phone fees,
plus meals, etc) put onto our own accounts, and we asked the husband and wife
to subtract whatever they paid for the hotel from our returned payment.
At long last, we finally returned home to Boston to try to
resume our normal lives – but the nightmare isn’t over. We have been pulling
teeth trying to keep the police investigation moving forward, despite a heaping
pile of evidence at their fingertips (disregard and corruption seem to be a
problem in the Bahamas… just Google it for a taste https://www.google.com/search?q=bahamas+corruption&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a#fp=633e4ade33ba97d5&q=bahamas+corruption+paul+rolle&rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aofficial). It turns out that home insurance and
travel insurance have found ways to avoid covering anything that was lost. We tried going to the media and the
Canadian government about our story, but the government refuses to put
political tension between themselves and the Bahamian government (perhaps this
is why the government travel advisory websites list nothing about the
commonplace home invasions, and worse, going on in these places http://travel.gc.ca/destinations/bahamas . Just check out the weekly crime bulletin for a taste: http://www.thebahamasweekly.com/publish/rbpf/index.shtml).
Never mind the inevitable “how was your honeymoon?”
questions from colleagues, friends and family that haunt us – constantly
prompting us to relive this trauma.
These were all things that were very distressing for us, but
we found ways of moving forward and putting our lives back together with the
support of family and friends. We
have entered into post-trauma therapy and are working to move on with our
lives.
All of this until August 22nd, 2013 (about 3.5
weeks after ‘our incident’), when we received a very disturbing email from the
renters, including the following text:
“When this incident originally occurred we were horrified but
confused by some of the details, on reflection and since hearing some more
accounts of what went on during your stay and the fact that you knew these
people, as you had been seen drinking with them on several occasions, being
escorted home by the off duty policeman, who informs us that you did not run
into the house as you indicated to us, but that Leah went back to talk to them
in the car, he witnessed that, bar staff warned you, that you should not
be hanging out with these guys, but you did any way. I could go on but won't
here, everything points to the fact that you brought what happened on yourself
and that you have to take some responsibility for that, why should we
have to pay for it, we have already spent over $700 for your hotel stay and we
feel that is more than enough. By bringing the attention of these people on
yourselves, you put yourselves in danger, you also brought their
attention to our property, which we are not happy about, as it has now cost us
$7000 to install cameras and have manned security, so I think we have
both paid dearly for your unwise wish to party heavily with a certain group of
locals that you were warned you should stay away from.”
And
“After speaking with a lawyer I quote
Under the law in the Bahamas, you as landlord are NOT
the insurer of their safety. You do not owe them any money, nor are you liable
to cover their losses from this incident and none of he laws in the Bahamas
make you liable”
This email completely baffled us. After about 3-4 hours of sheer disbelief, I decided that I
had to respond and set the record straight. It was within the realm of possibility that the husband and
wife somehow believed the things they had said, and we felt we owed it to them
to help them understand the truth
Here is what I sent:
“Mary and Peter,
Matt and I are
horrified and completely astonished at what you have written here. There
is clearly some misinformation circulating around, and we are baffled as to how
it came about. At this point, we are not sure how to respond to what was
said here -- we now know that you have quantified your losses, and we now know
that you are speaking with a lawyer. Based on this, perhaps the wisest
thing to do is to cease communication with you altogether. However, until
now, we had considered you both as allies in this terrible ordeal. We had
liked to think of you as friends in this unfortunate time, and in the spirit of
these warm feelings we had towards you, we feel that we need to try to help you
understand the truth. We understand that emotions are running high for
everyone right now, but we would like to set the record straight. Please
try to consider our point of view in this difficult time.
As we told you and the
police, we absolutely had only met this individual (who we think might have
been involved somehow in the break-in) on a single occasion. This
interaction occurred in 'Nesbitts',
across the street, and ended as we left the pub. The gentleman who
escorted us home did so at Matt's request, as we were suspicious at the
behavior of the other man. Following this, we had absolutely no contact
with the individual again. We did run into the apartment when we saw his
car as we were going inside. Neither of us left the apartment again that
night -- in fact we were quite terrified at the time and kept the apartment
lights off, lest he might watch for where we were staying. We locked all
of the doors, as we had done each night we were there, but also locked the
bedroom door on this particular occasion. I ABSOLUTELY did not go back
and talk to him in his car. I am at a complete loss as to why the
off-duty police officer has made this claim, and as a woman, I am completely
baffled as to why anyone would ever do that. His motivations for making
this claim are completely unknown to us.
We are both at a loss
as to why anyone would make the claim that we had been drinking with 'them'
(whoever 'they' are) on several occasions. I can't even think of a time
when we could have been mistaken to have done so. We visited Nesbitts on precisely two occasions - once earlier that week when we spoke
with two older gentlemen at the bar (this man was not at the pub at that time),
and the last time, which I have just described for you in the previous
paragraph. We were never warned by any bar staff to keep away from anyone
-- in fact, Matt asked the bar staff himself whether we should be keeping to
ourselves, and they informed him that it was perfectly encouraged to interact
with the locals as everyone is welcome there. Further, your vacation
property advertisement itself mentioned Nesbitts across
the street as a place to try. It seemed to be a completely friendly
establishment to us, and we interacted with the same smiling woman behind the
bar on both occasions.
Please try to remember
that this was our honeymoon. We visited the Bahamas to relax after our
wedding, and to explore the culture of the island together. We did not
visit the Bahamas to 'party heavily with a certain group of locals', and we
certainly would never have spoken to anyone we were warned against. In
fact, on our way to the golf course with Peter, we described to him the
incident that occurred the night the suspect followed us home. Peter did
not seem to be concerned about the man trying to follow us home, and expressed
his suspicion that the man was simply trying to make a few dollars off of us,
as the locals often do.
Our hearts are broken
at the accusations you have made here. To hear someone suggest that we
'brought what happened' on ourselves is devastating. The fact that it is
coming from you -- the people who stood by our sides in the first moments after
the terror of the incident, as we grappled to comprehend what had just happened
to us, who returned with us to the apartment to salvage what was left of our
belongings, who endured the grueling police investigation as we relived our
moments of terror in giving our statements, and who offered their deepest
regret and sympathy -- it is just beyond belief. We thought that we were
working through this together with you. We thought that your efforts in
this investigation were for our mutual benefit, and to bring to justice the evil
people who did this to us – all of us.
Now we are learning
that a case is being made against us and, what’s worse, false information is
being spread that could compromise the integrity of the police investigation
and jeopardize any chance of the perpetrators being apprehended. We are
just so far beyond frustrated by all of this. We are trying to put all of
this behind us and put our lives back together, with the help of post-trauma
therapy and the support of friends and family. After receiving this news,
we are at a complete loss at what to do next.
Leah and Matt”
We have
yet to hear anything more from these property renters. They will not answer our phone calls,
and at this point we don’t know whether they are planning to bring us to court
over their ‘losses’. I never
thought of myself as a spiteful person; we have taken great pains to avoid
exposing these people as the renters of the condo in which this happened – they
seemed genuinely horrified at what had happened to us and their ignorance to the
crime in their neighborhood seemed sincere. However, after having read their email, and their utter lack
of decency and empathy toward us, this situation has strained every fiber in my
body. I have taken to writing
letters (that I never send) to them as therapy for myself, to relieve some of
the bewilderment and frustration at this betrayal. Here is the latest letter that I have not sent to them, but
I hope that they will see it now and take it to heart:
“I
really think we are owed an apology for this gross lack of professionalism.
We have been nothing but reasonable with you before and throughout this
entire ordeal, and I dare say that we have been more than fair. If you
can't afford to live up to your word and return our payment, then just say so. There
is no need for childish finger pointing -- something terrible happened to all
of us, and the responsible parties are the crooks who got away. Let's not
forget who the real enemy is. To blame the victims of this terrible
ordeal, to say that we 'brought it on' ourselves, is a disgusting and selfish
thing to do. Innocent of any wrongdoing, we have suffered a trauma and
are coping with PTSD. Have you even taken a second to think of what a
gutless and damaging thing that is to say to someone at a time like this?
You should be very ashamed.
Even worse, you
are perpetuating lies about what happened and finding excuses for the need to
get a security system. How dare you attack us like this? The sad
truth is that you live in a dangerous area where (despite your gross ignorance
to what is going on around you) these events are not uncommon, and good
innocent people are targeted by crooks. Remember that there was a similar
incident a mere week and a half before ours just down the street, and countless
other horrific crimes reported in the weekly crime bulletin. Even sadder
is the fact that the locals in the area are willing to lie and cover up the
truth in order to protect these scumbags, and the police are more than willing
to sweep these cases under the rug in the interest of politics and corruption.
The reality is that this lack of accountability has made these sorts of
crimes a perfectly viable source of income for these people. Your
willingness to participate in blaming the victims only perpetuates the problem,
and makes the island a more dangerous place for the tourists who provide for
your way of life. We have done nothing to slight anyone; our only crime
is that we made an effort to experience the culture of the island off of the
resorts, and that we believed in the goodness of the people trying to make a
living through small business. I have lost faith in the people of the
Bahamas; at this rate it is only a matter of time before the country will be
grouped together with the likes of Jamaica and Mexico as notoriously dangerous
and corrupt nations that tourists should think twice about visiting. If
you make this bed for yourselves, then you will have to sleep in it. God
help the people of that island.
At this point, I
don't expect any level of professionalism from you, but the decent thing to do
would be to apologize.”
I hope that the things I have posted here will prevent other
families from suffering the horror of what happened to us. We wish that there could be a truly
safe place in the Caribbean for families to experience the culture of the
islands -- the sad truth is that, despite what you may learn from travel
websites, crime and corruption is pervasive everywhere in this region of the
world. Please learn from our
mistake of wanting a vacation outside the cookie-cutter world of
mega-resorts -- the only way to be
safe on this island is to never step foot off the resort, and to be content
with the amenities offered to you there.
