The news obviously was shocking, evinced by online comments throughout Europe and even the assassination-prone United States of Animosity: Conservative MP Sir David Amess was fatally stabbed multiple times as he conducted his regular weekly constituency surgery at the Belfairs Methodist Church, in Eastwood Road North, Leigh on Sea in Essex, England. As horrified constituents rushed to the MP’s assistance, his 25-year-old attacker sought to make good his escape but was soon taken into custody by police at the crime scene. Amess, 69, a married father of five, had voted against gay marriage and abortion.
The story brought to mind an incident shortly before the 2011 general elections when a young gunman opened fire on constituents in the verandah of Stephenson King’s office in La Clery, Castries. Miraculously, only one of them was hit, not fatally. At a time when violent crime in Saint Lucia was commonplace, more often than not involving firearms, many jumped to the conclusion that the intended target was Stephenson King, for several reasons hardly the day’s most popular politician.
Since the La Clery incident, local politicians have become more concerned about their personal security. It was revealed in 2012 that one minister of government had been assigned six plainclothes police bodyguards—a far cry from the time of John Compton who notoriously chauffered himself day and night, without a single bodyguard. He never changed his attitude, not after he was attacked by out of town rock-throwing irate banana-farm workers, not after the famous shit-storm in William Peter Boulevard, not even after his official residence was invaded in his absence by over-zealous political detractors, with his unprotected wife and young kids in their beds. Although the instigators were well known, local police laid no charges. Hopefully, local politicians will remain divinely protected!
