'Return our buses!'

Netball Jamaica (NJ) President Tricia Robinson was at a loss for words after waking up to the news on Monday morning that thieves have stolen two buses used for transporting the national teams.

The vehicles, two Toyota Coaster buses, were stolen from the Sunshine Girls’ Netball House, located at 17 Widcombe Road in St Andrew.

Robinson told The Gleaner that surveillance footage from the house shows that the thieves entered the premises about 12 a.m. on Sunday and left four hours later. This was after they had stripped the buses of NJ branding, which includes pictures of the Sunshine Girls and their sponsors.

“It is a massive blow for us because when we got there, you could see remains of the branding of the Sunshine Girls on the ground,” Robinson said. “How do we move around now? They stole both buses from the house and this is a very hard pill to swallow.”

Robinson said that one of the buses was donated to NJ by the Jamaica Public Service while the other was donated by FLOW, and both were comprehensively insured. The Sunshine Girls are preparing for their tri-nation home series against South Africa and Trinidad and Tobago and Robinson says it will now be a high expense to transport the players to and from training.

“This will certainly set back our programmes because this is what we use to transport the girls,” she said. “This is their home; it is a violation of the girls because you come to their home and you take away their transportation in a curfew period?

“It is a painful experience and I am appealing to the persons who stole the buses to return them.”

The Matilda’s Corner Police Station told The Gleaner yesterday that a report has been made by NJ and they are now investigating the matter. The house, dubbed ‘Sunshine Chalet’, or ‘Netball House’, is used for housing players from the various national programmes during training camps, seminars, and meetings.

The house was handed over to the NJ by Prime Minister Bruce Golding in January 2010.

robert.bailey@gleanerjm.com