BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – TWO men were remanded to Her Majesty’s Prison charged with the murder of proprietor of Elvis Love Shack Bar & Grill, Elvin Elvis Stanley of Old Road.
Charged with the 40-year-old man’s murder is Joseph ‘Galvanise’ Hazel of Bird Rock and Keston Martin of Parson Ground.
The two men were arrested on suspicion of murder on Saturday (Jan. 31) and, according to Police Press and Public Relations Officer Sergeant Stephen Hector, they were officially charged with murder late yesterday (Feb. 2) afternoon.
Hector declared that additional charges were proferred against the men but noted they would be made public via press release by tomorrow after confirmation with Inspector Charles Smithen, head of the Criminal Investigation Department.
However, well-placed sources indicated that during Hazel’s arrest, a quantity of controlled substance was allegedly found in his possession and that both men were also charged with the attempted murder of Stanley’s child mother Maria Gumbs and their teenage son.
Stanley was shot to death shortly before midnight on Thursday (Jan. 26) while driving his vehicle along the Anchorage Road in Frigate Bay.
Information reaching this publication stated that after closing his Bar & Grill which is situated at The Strip in Frigate Bay, Stanley, his child’s mother and their teenage son were in his car travelling along Anchorage Road on their way to his Old Road home when the incident occurred.
This media house learned that midway along that road, a vehicle that was in front of Stanley’s slowed down, blocked his path and while he was blowing his horn an unidentified individual emerged from the bushes on the right and opened fire on the occupants.
Stanley was shot in the chest and he died on the spot.
His child’s mother, who was seated on the passenger’s side of the car, was also shot and shortly thereafter rushed to the JNF General Hospital where she underwent emergency surgery and was said to be in stable condition.
One of the bullets grazed his son on his right thigh and he managed to open the door and ran to a friend who resides at the St. Christopher Club.
The teenager was taken to the hospital shortly before 2:00 a.m., where he was treated for his wound and discharged.
The shooting death of 40-year-old Elvin Elvis Stanley takes the total to two homicides committed in the Federation for the year.
The first was that of 28-year-old Desroy ‘Piggy’ James of Hermitage Extension, Lower Cayon, who was shot on the night of January 7 while walking with a friend along a track some 30 metres west of his home.
This is not the first time Hazel is faced with a murder rap.
In 2001, he was charged with the January 26, 2000 shooting-death of British millionaire Anthony Featherston (67) who was on holiday with his wife at his Fortlands residence in Basseterre, where they had been spending winters for some 15 years.
According to information reaching SKNVibes, on the night of his death, the former Royal Air Force pilot went to investigate why the doorbell at the gate of his enclosed yard had softly rung.
While on the deck that was close to his kitchen, Featherston was confronted by a masked man, alleged to be Hazel, who demanded money and shot him in the chest at point-blank range when he said he had none.
Featherston crashed to the ground from the deck into his garden, where he was later pronounced dead by District Medical Officer Dr. Reginald O’Loughlin.
Hazel was tried in April 2004, found guilty on a majority verdict and sentenced to death by hanging.
However, in 2006 he appealed the conviction and sentence on the following grounds:
• The learned trial judge erred in law in failing to direct the jury that there was no sufficient evidence to prove the case against him;
• The learned trial judge erred in law in failing to exclude the evidence of the DNA expert on the basis that it was more prejudicial than probative; and
• The learned trial judge erred in law in failing to address the jury adequately on the DNA evidence in the case.
Represented by Dr. Henry Browne and Hesketh Benjamin, the three judges, Hugh Rawlins, Brian Alleyne and Denys Barrow, ruled that the case should never have gone to court and that the DNA evidence on which the conviction was based was not strong enough.
Justice Rawlins said, “In the absence of DNA evidence that clearly linked Hazel to the murder and there being no supporting evidence, it is my view that in keeping with the Turnbull and the Michael Pringle guidelines, it was unsafe to leave the case to the jury. The learned trial judge should have withdrawn the case from the jury because there was insufficient evidence of identification to make a prima facie case against Hazel. I would therefore grant the appeal on this ground, and, in the result, quash the conviction and sentence against Joseph Hazel.”
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