BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – Little more than 48 hours after the Prime Minister allegedly assaulted a representative of the People’s Action Movement (PAM), another came under attack and suffered extensive injuries to his face and mouth.
PAM held a public meeting in Old Road last evening (Mar. 26) that concluded around midnight, and following that meeting Eugene Hamilton, PAM’s Deputy Leader, was struck in the face with a rock during an onslaught from hidden assailants.
Leader of PAM, Lindsay Grant, spoke to SKNVibes and explained that the incident occurred about 20 minutes after the meeting had concluded while party candidates and members were socialising.
Loud noises erupted around the small gathering, and Grant initially believed these sounds to be gunshots.
“About 12:20 I heard noises, which initially I thought were noises from a gun. Within a few seconds I recognised it was not that, but that it was from stones hitting vehicles and shops and that sort of thing. I immediately sought cover, went into a nearby shop and stood there until the stones had stopped falling.”
While in the shop Grant was informed that his Deputy Leader, Hamilton, was injured in the violent hail of stones. Grant quickly headed towards Hamilton’s direction and found him with blood pouring from his face.
“When I got there, I saw him stooping down. I saw blood gushing from his face and I just made sure he was stable at that point in time. I then ran to the Old Road Police Station, but before I got there I met one of my other colleagues, Junie Hodge, who used to be a police.
“I told him to notify the police immediately and ran back to where Hamilton was. I immediately took over the situation, put him in my vehicle and drove him directly to the Joseph N. France General Hospital, where he was treated.”
According to Grant, Hamilton had “cuts and bruises on the frontal portion of his face, his nose and one or two teeth were knocked out”. After being discharged from the hospital at about 2:00 am, Hamilton headed for his home to begin the recovery process.
While he expressed deep concern for his Deputy Leader and his injuries, Grant said the situation could have been far worse if a pregnant woman standing next to Hamilton at the time had fallen victim to the attack.
Grant vehemently chastised the perpetrators of the assault, and said his party denounces such actions.
“I want to say the People’s Action Movement condemns strongly this type of behaviour. It could have been a gun, could have been a bullet. Good thinking citizens cannot support this kind of behaviour in this country.
“I think political parties are free, within the confines of the constitution and the law, to oppose, and we are saying...we must not allow violence to get into the political domain. Politics and violence is a very explosive combination,” Grant said.
Attempts to contact the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force were unsuccessful as of press time.
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