Twenty years ago a young Canadian university graduate on a visit to Saint Lucia was knifed to death near Mindoo Phillip Park in Castries. According to the police at the time, 21-year-old Tom Nugent had earlier been invited by two local individuals to go with them to a “calypso spectacular” at the park. They had first met three days earlier at a Gros Islet jump-up.
The incident received widespread publicity via the Internet. It was also referenced in parliament by Justice Minister Velon John when he implied Nugent may have had other than music on his mind when he visited Marchand, then notorious for drug trafficking.
Prime Minister Kenny Anthony also came in for public criticism after it emerged he had called on Nugent’s parents while on a visit to Canada. Two men were charged with Nugent’s death and later released, allegedly after witnesses backed away from testifying. The case is among 500 cold cases acknowledged by local police.
This week the STAR received a letter from Stephen Sjodin who recalled his cousin had come to Saint Lucia to attend his wedding to a Saint Lucian woman, on the day after he was killed. Wrote Sjodin on the 20th anniversary of Tom Nugent’s death: “Those who took the young man’s life also took the life of his mother, Catherine. She died alone in her home after living two hellish decades in a deep depression that started with the death of her only child. She had lost her husband the year before, so was now all alone. She was never the same after also losing her only child. No amount of extended family support or medical intervention worked. She sat alone in a dark room year after year, barely eating. No television, Internet or social life. It was very sad.”
In consequence of Tom Nugent’s death the Canadian authorities issued warnings to potential visitors to Saint Lucia. “With the passage of two decades,” Sjodin went on, “perhaps there are witnesses out there no longer afraid to do their part in bringing the matter to a judicial conclusion. Please call the local police and tell them what you know.”
