[dropcap]O[/dropcap]n Saturday, March 31 UK news platforms featured the following headlines: “British woman dragged into bushes and repeatedly raped while on holiday in St Lucia.” “British woman repeatedly raped on Caribbean paradise island St Lucia on Good Friday after being dragged into bushes!”
Meanwhile videos were making the rounds via Whatsapp of a half-naked man seated on a floor, his hands cuffed behind him. In one of the videos the same man is shown being interrogated by one of his captors. He can be heard saying, “Gah, the woman tell me you bring her by your mother and everything . . . So my boss, you want to see how the woman bruise up man, the amount of tings you do de woman when you bring her down in the hole there mun . . . you want the woman to come to see how much bruise and how much bite you bite the woman?” The cuffed man slowly nods affirmatively.
Related information from the police leaves much to be desired. They claimed they had not seen the widely circulated videos, although one officer did say a man was under arrest who resembled the videoed alleged rapist. As for his victim, the police press office acknowledged a British woman had been raped and that a man had been arrested, though not yet charged.
In the meantime the Justice and National Security Minister, Mr. Hermangild Francis, appeared at a pre-cabinet meeting with the press saying: “What I want to tell the perpetrators of such incidents is that we no longer have to rely on eye witness evidence; we are able to catch suspects based on the fact that the lab has so far been able to solve two of these gruesome cases of rape and murder.”
In the latter part of 2017 alone, five similar cases were reported. In one matter, a 22-year-old woman was dragged into bushes in Choiseul by a man who attempted to rape her. A passer-by intervened, overcame and restrained the assailant before handing him to the police. In October, two men rescued a woman who was being dragged into a bush by two other males who had ambushed her in Vieux Fort. A woman who was attacked in November was not so fortunate. Three men grabbed her as she walked along a Dennery road and raped her. A similar assault occurred in Micoud. But for the intervention of a neighbour the female victim might’ve been raped and killed. Shortly after the Micoud rescue, the body of Saadia Byron was discovered not far from her Laborie home. She had also been raped.
To return to Mr. Hermangild Francis, who issued this general warning to criminals and others contemplating crime: “We may not be able to stop [you] but . . . we will catch you if you were to commit that sort of crime.” Not much comfort for relatives and friends of victims, however well intentioned. Meanwhile the nation pays for the crimes of a relative few who seem convinced they can get away with murder and rape, for Saint Lucia has been declared a very dangerous place for Brits on vacation!
