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ST.KITTS-NEVIS ROCKED BY TRIPLE MURDER

 

The small twin-island federation of St.Kitts-Nevis was over the weekend rocked by a Triple Murder at the country’s most popular night spot the Frigate Bay Strip. Three young men were shot and killed during a shooting incident which also saw two other persons being shot and are currently hospitalized in Critical Condition

The slain young men were identified as Cecil Charles, Glenville Hendrickson and Tavis Francis.

  Cecil Charles Murder Victim  Tavis Francis Murder Victim

The incident that claimed 3 lives was the second shooting incident of the evening as a young man was shot multiple times hours earlier in the Village of Conaree a few miles away .

The weekend bloodshed therefore saw three men losing their lives in one tragic incident and approximately four others nursing gunshot wounds resulting from that and another incident.

 

The country has been plagued by the scourge of crime for the last 10 years and near the top of  the worlds highest murder rates in 2011  . The UK Daily Mail recently listed the Capital City of Basseterre as the most murderous city in the world.  Although there has been a reduction in violent crimes , particularly murders, the country remains among the top 3 in crime including murders,  in the Caribbean. Within the last 6 weeks there has been a number of brazen daylight robberies of Banks including the Bank of Nova Scotia as well as a number of businesses.

 Prime Minister Douglas

Prime Minister Dr. Denzil Douglas described the recent triple murder as a “heinous act” while Leader of the Federal Opposition Mr. Mark Brantley, also the Deputy Premier of Nevis, urged everyone to condemn such criminal activity. “…we must all pull together to deal with the scourge of crime and violence in our nation,” he told WINN 98.9.

Leader of Team Unity, the powerful tri-party Opposition alliance, Hon. Dr. Timothy Harris expressed “heartfelt condolences to the families…” and stated that “the brutal killings on the Strip was a gruesome reminder that the society is tearing itself apart”

The weekend carnage is unprecedented on the island as despite the scores of horrific murders over the years it is the first time that 3 persons have been murdered in one shooting incident.

After a record breaking period of murders between 2009 and 2011 which saw close to 100 murders the government was forced to make changes in the Police High Command. CG Walwyn was brought in to lead the security forces as the Chief of Police. Walwyn was born in St.Kitts but was raised in the Virgin Islands and last worked as a Deputy Sherrif First Class in  Orange County Sheriff’s Office, Orlando, Florida.

According to the Orange County Rank structure the Deputy Sheriff First Class is the second lowest rank in the command just below corporal and above Deputy/Detective. This raised some questions regarding his qualifications to run the Police Force of a country with a murder and crime problem as has been experienced by St.Kitts-Nevis. However since his presence there has been some improvements although the country is still ranked at the top of the Murder Rate in the Caribbean for 2013.

St Kitts and Nevis, with a population of 46,204 (based on 2011 population figures), had the highest murder rate of the surveyed countries in the Caribbean with 21 murders in 2013.

Jamaica, with a population of over 2.7 million, had the second highest murder rate with 44.1 murders per 100,000 people. Jamaica recorded 1,197 murders in 2013.

The US Virgin Islands had the fourth highest murder rate, with 32.9 murders per 100,000.

The US Virgin Islands has a population of over 100,000 and recorded 35 murders in 2013.

Trinidad and Tobago, which recorded 405 murders in 2013 and has a population of over 1.3 million, was fifth with 30.5 murders per 100,000.

St Vincent and the Grenadines (27 murders) was sixth with 27.6 murders per 100,000; Saint Lucia (34 murders) seventh with 20.1; Dominica (12 murders) eighth with 16.8; Anguilla (two murders) ninth with 14.8; the Turks and Caicos Islands (three murders) tenth with 8.8; Barbados (24 murders) 11th with 8.7; the Cayman Islands (four murders) 12th with 7.0 and the British Virgin Islands (one murder) 13th with 3.5.