Murder rate up in St. Kitts-Nevis;
…82.35% gun-related murders in 2008
By Terresa McCall
Reporter-SKNVibes.com
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – AS much as residents hoped that the Federation’s 2008 murder tally would not have surpassed that of last year’s, the same has taken place and it has even equalled that of 2006 which was a record year.
In 2003, the Federation’s murder rate stood at 10, jumped to 11 in 2004 and regressed to eight in 2005. In 2006 however, the murder rate escalated to more than 100 percent of the previous year’s toll; it stood at a record breaking 17 as at the end of that year.
While some were a tad bit “relieved” in 2007 because the murder toll stood at a total less than that of 2006, others argued that the situation is just as grim and explained that whether or not the Federation is in good standing, it should not be measured using 2006 as a yard stick as that was the year in which the country recorded its highest murder rate ever.
Persons further argue that if 2006 is used as the formative factor, the Federation runs the risk dealing with an ever-worsening murder problem because the misconception would be, once the murder rate does not supersede that record year, the painted picture is not as macabre as it really is.
On the morn of January 29, 2008, the Federation awoke to the news of the demise of one of its young men in the person of Leon ‘Gravo’ Westerman of Nevis. The 28-year-old, who was the Federation’s first murder victim for the year, lost his life on January 29 after he was approached and shot by two masked gunmen. The incident took place at a Spanish bar in the vicinity of Low Street in Nevis. He was the lone murder victim for the month of January. ~~Adz:Right~~
The following month saw no murder victim, but in March there were three, April four, May two, one in June, two in July and two in August. Last month, two young men were murdered.
With an approximate three months remaining in the year, 17 murders have already been recorded in the Federation.
Between 2003 and 2005, 29 individuals were murdered in the Federation and between 2006 and present, the murder rate stands at 50; the lives of 79 individual were cut short during 2003 to date.
An analysis of the 2008 murder statistics shows that a staggering 82.35 percent of the murders committed were executed via the assistance of firearms while the remaining 17.65 percent was otherwise committed. Also, 82.35 percent of the murders that occurred in 2008 took place in St. Kitts while the remainder was committed in Nevis.
Information reaching SKNVibes states that about 41.18 percent or seven of the 2008 murders were solved and the remaining 10 are not.
