Federation records eight murders in four months
By Terresa McCall
Reporter-SKNVibes.com
~~Adz:Right~~ BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - JUST four months into the year and the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis has recorded its eighth murder; a statistic which some people described as “alarming” and “astronomical”.
The first murder for the year took place on the smaller of the two islands, Nevis, where Leon ‘Gravo’ Westerman was shot on Sunday, January 28, 2008 while at a bar in Charlestown.
The other seven murders occurred in St. Kitts, the first of which was that of Derrick Gumbs Jr., alias ‘Jake’ of Newtown. According to reports, the young man was sitting with a number of individuals in Newtown when a masked gunman or gunmen approached, opened fire and shot him.
The third and fourth murder victims are Orlando ‘Snoop’ Williams of Buckley’s and Leon Willock of Dorset Village whose bodies were discovered in the Olivees/Mattingley Mountain on Tuesday, March 25. They had allegedly visited a friend on Sunday, March 23 to request his company to the hills, but he informed them that he had other plans.
One of the men, according to police, was discovered by an individual who was on the said mountain. He reported his discovery to the police and a search for the other man proved successful.
An autopsy confirmed that the men died as a result of gunshot wounds.
About a week and a half after that discovery, Alphonso ‘Bobo Hortical’ Richards, 25, of St. Pauls was stabbed to death. Reports indicate that somewhere in “De Ghetto” Richards was involved in an altercation with another individual and as a result was stabbed in the upper left portion of his chest. He was taken to the Pogson Hospital and succumbed to his injuries about half an hour after.
Richards’ was the Federation’s fifth murder and St. Kitts’ fourth.
A tourist got more than an eyeful on Saturday, April 12 after discovering the motionless body of a young male on the cliff side of one of St. Kitts’ tourist attractions, Black Rocks. It was the body of Gregory Anthony Zakers who, according to an autopsy report, died as a result of injuries caused by a blunt object.
Less than two months before his death, Zakers was acquitted of the murder of 16-year-old Josh Smithen who was stabbed to death on September 8, 2006 during the opening ceremony of Festival De Capisterre. Jamal Bradshaw and Fitzroy Challenger were jointly charged with Zakers but the jury could not decide on their innocence or guilt.
Six days after Zakers’ remains were discovered, two more murders took place in St. Kitts - Charles Benjamin Matthew, alias ‘Abaloo’ and Tau Gowon.
Matthew was shot to death in broad daylight at Shaw Avenue. To make matters worse, during the late evening hours of that day, news spread across the nation that Tau Gowon was stabbed to death at Lower Market Street.
During the first four months of 2007 the Federation recorded five murders compared to seven in 2006; figures which have bee surpassed in 2008. (See Graph 1).
Interestingly, none of the murder victims were older than 32 years. The oldest was ‘Abaloo’ and Zakers was the youngest.
According to police, headway was made with investigations into four of the eight murders. Lionel ‘Shaggy’ Warner of Saddlers Village turned himself over to the police in connection with the murder of Richards.
Five individuals have been arrested on suspicion in connection with Zakers’ murder, and SKNVibes understands that headway is also being made in the ‘Abaloo’ and Gowon murders.
Of the 20 murders that occurred in the Federation during the months of January – April in 2006, 2007 and 2008, 16 or 80 percent of them are gun-related. (See Chart 1).
.jpg) |
(1).jpg) |
(2).jpg) |
|
Charles Benjamin Matthew 'Abaloo'
|
Orlando 'Snoop' Williams
|
Alphonso 'Bobo Hortical' Richards
|
 |
.jpg) |
|
Derrick 'Jake' Gumbs Jr.
|
Leon 'Gravo' Westerman
|
 |
(1).jpg) |
|
Gregory Anthony Zakers
|
Leon Willock
|
