CHARLESTOWN, Nevis – THREE separate shootings in Nevis have left one man dead, one critical and another nursing a bullet wound to his leg at the Alexandra Hospital in Nevis.
Dead is 26-year-old Jermaine ‘Chalice’ Freeman of Rawlins Village who was shot multiple times, including bullets to his head, in the vicinity of the Culture Village in Grove Park.
Information reaching SKNVibes indicates that shortly before 5:00 this morning (August 1), a fight broke out among a group of young men in the Bull Pen Bar (an entertainment spot within the Cultural Village) and continued outside in the Cultural Village.
An individual, who was partying in the Bull Pen Bar, said that “while the men were fighting, a number of gunshots rang out and many people were trampled upon as we ran looking for places of safety. Shortly after the shooting stopped, I saw Chalice lying on the ground with about three bullets to his head…he was dead”.
This publication contacted Head of the Nevis Division of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force, Inspector Hilroy Brandy, who confirmed Freeman’s shooting-death and declared that police are in search of a number of persons of interest.
Freeman’s death had taken the number of homicides recorded in the twin-island Federation for the year to 22; 19 on St. Kitts and three on Nevis.
This is not the first time that gunmen had targeted Freeman.
At about 4:30 a.m. on Saturday, February 20 last year, after attending a party at Zion Old School Night Spot in Zion Village, Nevis, Freeman and Travis ‘Gangster Fat’ Hanley of Halfway Tree, St. Kitts were allegedly shot by two men.
Freeman was shot in both legs and Hanley in the back.
Since then, police have charged 20-year-old Leon Didder and 27-year-old Tayan Wilkin with attempted murder.
Prior to that incident, Freeman, Marius Webbe, Kishmoy Challenger, Ashton Williams and Ashley Freeman were charged and convicted for the March 5, 2004 slaying of 16-year old Eric Weekes.
They were convicted on April 12, 2006 at the Nevis Circuit Court of Justice, and while Webbe was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment with hard labour, Freeman was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment, Challenger to 25, Williams to 20 and Ashley Freeman to 20 years imprisonment.
However, on Wednesday, October, 29, 2008, Freeman, Challenger, Williams and Ashley Freeman were freed by the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal because there was not enough evidence to support their alleged involvement in Weekes’ death.
The Justices of Appeal however ruled that there was enough evidence against Webbe for the case to have gone to the jury, and his appeal was dismissed and sentence confirmed.
Meanwhile, Inspector Brandy stated that shortly after 9:00 last night, Bernard Browne Jr. was shot in his leg in the vicinity of his Cole Hill Village residence.
Brandy said Browne, who was in the company of his father, had exited his vehicle when a man appeared with a rifle and shot him.
Browne was taken to the Alexandra Hospital, where he received emergency medical treatment and is said to be in stable condition.
And sometime after Browne’s unfortunate incident, another man was shot in Nevis.
Inspector Brandy reported that Gary ‘Joel’ Simmonds of Church Road, Gingerland was shot about his body during what appeared to be a robbery.
SKNVibes learnt that Simmonds was among a group of men gambling in an old house in Pond Hill, Gingerland when a gunman or gunmen appeared, robbed the occupants and shot Simmonds about the body.
Unconfirmed reports indicate that he was also shot in the head and that was not the first time people had been robbed in that particular house.
At about 5:30 a.m. today when this media house spoke with Brandy, he indicated that Simmonds was undergoing emergency surgery and his condition was considered critical.
