The in­ci­dent in which a prison of­fi­cer was stabbed dur­ing an at­tempt­ed rob­bery in St Au­gus­tine on Thurs­day, has been de­scribed as a crime of op­por­tu­ni­ty and not a tar­get­ed am­bush as pre­vi­ous­ly be­lieved.

Con­firm­ing the 34-year-old man was in a sta­ble con­di­tion at hos­pi­tal yes­ter­day, Prison Of­fi­cers As­so­ci­a­tion (POA) pres­i­dent Ger­ard Gor­don yes­ter­day urged the pub­lic to join the au­thor­i­ties in tak­ing back the coun­try from the crim­i­nal el­e­ments.

The of­fi­cer, who is as­signed to the Max­i­mum Se­cu­ri­ty Prison in Arou­ca, was ap­proached around 12.15 am as he walked along St Au­gus­tine Cir­cu­lar to his home.