Police: Poor Conflict Resolution at Heart of most Homicides in Saint Lucia

Two days before the close of the old year, yet another chopping incident occurred on the afternoon of December 29, 2019 in Riviere Mitan, Gros Islet. “Two male individuals were involved in an altercation where one injured the other with a cutlass,” said Superintendent of Police George Nicholas at a press conference on Tuesday. Nicholas added that “an off-duty police officer intervened by discharging one round of ammunition in the right leg of one of the combatants.”

Just three days prior, on December 26, 45-year-old Aaron Cooper died from the effects of chop wounds to the left side of his chest, back and neck, sustained in Anse Ger, Micoud. This marked the 48th homicide for 2019. By year’s end it had climbed to fifty. Poor conflict resolution played a major role in Saint Lucia’s homicide tally last year, as it has done going back several decades. As Nicholas succinctly put it: “Most homicides have been the result of persons not being able to control their temper or anger, or being able to resolve a situation amicably, and we preach every day that persons should try to exercise tolerance and try to deal with altercations in a more amicable way. I said some time ago: if you find yourself in an altercation, you should walk away. But persons tend to believe they have the right to take the law into their own hands.” 

Saint Lucians also tend to take cutlasses and other dangerous weapons into their hands in order to perpetuate violence upon each other. As Nicholas revealed: “On a daily basis, police on routine patrols recover weapons; not only cutlasses, but also scissors, knives, ice-picks and other dangerous weapons from individuals.”  

Nicholas went on: “It is something that you can be charged for and brought before the court if you cannot give a satisfactory account for having that in your possession. The whole thrust of the legislation is to be able to give a satisfactory account. The charged individual would have to prove to the court his legitimate reason for carrying the weapon and the court would make a determination as to whether that reason is satisfactory or not.”