BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE last session of this morning’s (Dec. 26) J’Ouvert was marred and came to a premature end when an innocent reveller was wounded in the head by an obviously irate male.
The ‘wet down’ portion of the jam began at about 10:00 a.m. on Bank Street, where a pickup truck carrying equipment and staff of the St. Kitts-Nevis Fire and Rescue Services Department were on hand to perform the traditional wet down duties.
It went along incident-free for about an hour until an incident occurred between a man and a woman, which resulted in injury to a female reveller.
According to an eyewitness account, a man, who appeared to be aggravated, approached a female reveller in a very hostile manner. When she noticed what was taking place, the reveller repeatedly told the man that she was “sorry” and made an attempt to retreat from the situation with the man in pursuance.
He was, also according to the eyewitness, held back by other revelers, but he reappeared minutes later on the nearby parking lot and flung two objects into the revelling crowd, one of which struck a woman to the back of her head. She was identified as Maria Walwyn, an employee of the Marriott Casino.
A plain-clothes gazetted officer of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force, Superintendent Cromwell Henry, arrested the man and took him to the Basseterre Police Station.
Bleeding heavily from the wound, the woman was transported to the Joseph N. France General Hospital via the Emergency Medical Services.
SKNVibes understands that as a result of the incident, Quincy Duncan of Caunt Street, Newtown was arrested and charged for throwing missiles to the danger of persons and is reportedly still in police custody.
This publication also understands that Duncan is one of 14 individuals arrested during the J’Ouvert festivities. Offences for which the others were arrested include possession of marijuana and disorderly conduct by fighting.
