Flashback

Just when we were certain no one would recognize the ladies in our last Flashback shot, wow! Not only were we proved wrong but we also learned a thing or two about the central figures we didn’t know before.

Yes, the picture was taken while I was conducting a roadside interview with Rufina Henry (is she really deceased?) and her close friend Gracelyn, both grieving and altogether hateful of the police for having fatally shot a day or so earlier escaped convict Corbo, Rufina’s brother. (Police claimed at his inquest without the smallest evidence that he had been involved in the killing of Police Superintendent Alphonse!)

It all happened on what was then referred to as National Day, as I recall, a public holiday. The killing of unarmed Corbo had all the marks of a police execution. Ironically, he had been hiding in the bushes at the Hospital Road cemetery, waiting for his Rasta lawyer Lorne Miguel to meet and escort him safely back to police headquarters, a five minute walk from the abandoned burial ground. Alas the police got there first and, well, the gory details are to be found in my book Foolish Virgins.

Little has changed since 1979, when the picture was taken. Congrats to my long-time friend Lydia Cox (how you doin’ girl?) for remembering so clearly the Corbo incident. But sorry Dawn Joseph, Terry James was shotgunned to death by the SSU in a house at Fou-a-Chaud.

Thanks for the big-up George Polius but you got the date wrong; it was ’79 when the Louisy Labour Party under Allain Louisy came into office. (Am I right on that, Lydia?). Oh but George is quite correct about his having helped me introduce the STAR to Saint Lucia. Great days, George. I should do a story about that one of these days. By the way, Lydia, the fire at the prison was another show, nothing to do with the police executions of Corbo and Terry James.

Now let’s see how many can identify the gentlemen in our new Flashback shot. Tell us what you remember about the time it was taken! —–Rick Wayne

Let’s see how many can identify the gentlemen in our new Flashback shot. Tell us what you remember about the time it was taken!