Thief gets his just desserts!

Unless you were raised under the tutelage of hardened criminals you will know that theft is not good. Most people are aware that taking something that does not belong to them is less than admirable behaviour and, if you do happen to steal there are usually consequences. Prison, a taste for badness, guilt, and, in some cases... Death. It's true that some folk who have had a penchant for stealing have even ended up losing their lives due to their wrongdoing - but you have to admit that a thief being put to death by an alligator ranks very high up in terms of being heavily penalised for such a crime. 

A Florida man suspected of committing burglaries was killed by an 11- foot alligator while hiding during a police raid. Matthew Riggins was reported missing on November 13 for his body to be found 10 days later floating in a pond in Barefoot Bay, Florida. When authorities tried to pull his remains out of the water, they were nearly attacked by the alligator, mayor Tod Goodyear of Barefoot said in a statement. 

Just before embarking on a mission in his neighbourhood the perpetrator, Riggins, 22, phoned his girlfriend (it's all about good open communication, you see) notifying her of his plans to commit burglaries with another person. The second suspect, who is not named escaped the gruesome fate of being gobbled up by the beast. This man is now in custody - but is refusing to cooperate with the police. 

This bizarre account gathered momentum when residents in the Barefoot Bay area called the police, saying they had seen two men dressed in "black" (c'mon, they were probably African American) lurking in their backyards. Well as you can imagine all hell broke loose, police squad and ferocious barking dogs were sent out and to add to that a police helicopter was even dispatched to the scene. With flashing lights and everything! 

Due to this escalating commotion the bad guy, Riggins again called his girlfriend saying that they were now on the run (probably informing her he wouldn't be home in time for supper, so not to bother cooking). Anyway, this frenetic search continued in vain for a couple of hours until it was called off. "He probably went into the the lake to hide from the officers and dogs and came across that gator," Goodyear said before further admitting, "To hide somewhere to try and get away, and then meeting up with an animal like that, no I've never had that happen before." 

The divers involved in the recovery of Riggins body faced some protest from the alleged alligator, it aggressively approached them in a manner that more than suggested that it did not want to give a statement. After much duress in salvaging Riggins mangled remains the autopsy chap concluded that Riggins had died after being dragged and drowned by the animal. 

"I would say it's poetic justice, if you want to sit there and steal from people..." Said Barefoot Bay resident Chuck Stones.*

Oh be quiet, Chuck! 

Demola, TCC

 

 

 

 

* You can just imagine Chuck to be a diminutive, bespectacled  busy body full of opinions.