41 Homicides But Who’s Counting!

The Saint Lucian public was again horrified on Monday by news of another murder. 76-year-old Andrew Joseph of Mon Repos had died from gunshot wounds inflicted by two robbers last Saturday evening. Per the most recent update, the suspects are currently in police custody. Joseph marked the island’s 41st homicide for 2019.  

Recently, this newspaper’s publisher reminded the public via an article that every variety of crime was being committed all over the island, and not only in the capital Castries. He said the notion that life in the smaller communities was idyllic, or that it had ever been, was altogether false. He put his point across in typical fashion: “How quickly we forget. Then again perhaps I should be underscoring instead our ability to remember only when convenient—not to mention the established price to be paid by those who simply cannot remember the past.”

He had, on the recalled occasion, been referencing Mathurin Dornelly’s murder in Micoud on the last day of August this year. Dornelly was 66, a fact that obviously meant nothing to his killers. 

Just two weekends ago, former city council clerk Victor Maurice was shot near his Balata home as he was stepping out of his vehicle. Thankfully he remains “in stable condition”. That Maurice is well into his sixties was of no account. Then there’s the case of a 105-year-old-woman allegedly raped by a man less than half her age.  

These cited incidents will hopefully serve as reminders that where crime is permitted to have its way, no one is safe, regardless of neighbourhood or age. Moreover, that when we withhold information from the police, we may be signing our own death warrants. Certainly we make ourselves accomplices.