15 Year Old Student Charged for Gun Possession on School Compound!

Toward the end of September last year Police were alerted to the discovery of dead body at a beach in Dennery. The unidentified body was that of a young male who sustained a gunshot wound and died as a result of his injuries. Unica James, his mother, would be in disbelief after Police confirmed by way of DNA that her 19 year old son, Simeon Benjamin James, had been killed and left for dead. Subsequently, a 16 year old was arrested and charged for his death.

October was barely on the way when the sound of single gun shot cut through the silence in the community of Faux-a-Chaud, Castries. Dead was 16 year old Miguella Joseph of the same area. Circumstances surrounding her death left her mother, Lisa George, grappling with the prospect of having to bury one child and dealing with the legal ramifications that faced another. This sibling was taken into custody by Police to assist with investigations.

Over the weekend, Eric Thomas, a 22 year old male of Laborie would be shot by Police in pursuit of him. Thomas purportedly was brandishing an unlicensed firearm and opened fire on Police near a popular night club. He died after Police returned fire.

Today the Royal St. Lucia Police would issue the below statement:

At About 1:00 p.m. on Monday, February 13, 2023, officers attached to the Community Relations Branch, Castries, recovered a .380 pistol from a fifteen (15) year old male student.

Officers were summoned to a Secondary School within Castries, where a search of the male and his property was conducted. Following the discovery, he was arrested and has been charged by officers attached to the Criminal Investigations Department, for unlawful Possession of Firearm.

Shall we, therefore, consider ourselves lucky that this latest incidenct did not result in another youth looking down the barrel of a gun only to lose his/her life? Or, are these incidents indicative of a deeper scourge of illegal gun possession spilling into the, should be, care free lives of the nation’s youth?

One begs many questions; Why are there so many youth, many underage, in possession of illegal firearms? Are they solely responsible for this? Do these youth source and ship these guns in barrels and compressor tanks in between doing their homework and bursting pimples? How many more have concealed firearms in their back packs across the island? Are their parents aware?

Only a few weeks ago, the Police seemed in contention with the Ministry of Education after they retracted a strongly worded statement saying students would be arrested for loittering the streets of Castries. Does the Ministry of Education, therefore, take responsibility for the envelopment on our youth of gun crime?