On the morning of October 30, 2018 Saint Lucians at home and abroad were shaken to their core by the announcement, first on radio, then via a police press conference, then seemingly everywhere including the island’s countless watering holes, that Kimberly de Leon, a mother of two young children, had been shot dead as she prepared for bed at her Morne residence.
Initially the police declared Kimberly’s husband—and one of their own—a “person of interest” in the suspected murder, but soon after recanted. To date there have been no arrests. The once upon a time “person of interest,” after he was granted some requested time off, returned to regular duties. Meanwhile his mother-in-law has custody of his two young offspring, a girl and boy.
Despite persistent appeals to the police from the media as well as from other interested parties for updates, the official response has been “the matter is before the Director of Public Prosecutions.” Earlier the police had assured all enquirers that samples collected from the scene of the crime had been sent for forensic analysis to an off-island crime laboratory. Further conflicting responses followed, including that local police were analyzing the received lab’s analysis and conclusions.
The de Leon homicide has now taken a new and unexpected turn. Kimberly’s husband has filed a lawsuit against the popular radio personality known as Juk Bois and his employers, the police, and an individual described as “a political activist” and frequent contributor to Facebook on matters of a political nature. The complainant is represented by Foster’s Chambers, arguably the leading Caribbean specialists in cases of libel and slander. More on this new development in our next issue.
