Anguilla’s Governor, Alistair Harrison, and Chief Minister, Hubert Hughes, have undertaken to publicly condemn the current crime wave on the island. At the beginning of the week, the violence resulted in the stabbing death of one young man, Marcus Rogers at Scilly Cay, on Sunday, June 10; and the shooting death of Jordel Gumbs atWest End, on Monday, June 11.
The Governor delivered a broadcast on Radio Anguilla on Tuesday evening, and earlier in the day the Chief Minister read a statement to members of the media at a press conference at the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The relevant points made by the Governor, in his broadcast, were as follows:
“If we had made a joint statement we would have reinforced a point – that both of us have been making for some time – namely, that we all have to work together to fight crime, and that none of us can solve it alone. There is on this issue not a shred of difference between me and the Chief Minister. And, having read the various statements issued, and having talked to virtually every member of the House of Assembly in the last 48 hours, there is no difference between any of the parties, or any politicians. We all want to end the current crime wave. No one is in favour of crime.
But we need everyone to play their part. I particularly welcome the Chief Minister’s remarks about the importance of the role of the community. Community policing is an important strand of the police’s work, and is now a feature of nearly every community on the island. The Chief Minister has set out clearly what he is doing, and I applaud his initiative. As the person ultimately responsible for the security of this island, I should also let you know as much as I can of what the RAPF and I are doing. Firstly, let me fully endorse the work of the RAPF under Commissioner Proctor. They have mad huge progress. I can report that someone has now been charged with murder in connection with the events on Sunday. And many suspects have been detained in connection with the deaths of Gustave and Jordell. I cannot say more at the moment about ongoing investigations, and matters that are or will be sub judice.
“Yesterday, I visited Island Harbour with the Commissioner and the local MHA (Member of the House of Assembly) Othlyn Vanterpool. We spoke to many in the community there, and to the young murder victim’s family including his mother. Today, we had to pay a similar visit toWest End. Again, I invited the local MHA, Walcott Richardson, to join me, although he was understandably pre-occupied with his ministerial duties. I was pleased that other local politicians from that district were present when I visited the murder scene, and they all endorsed the initiative of Walcott Richardson in calling a very early Town Hall meeting to enable the residents of West End to make their views known. Again, it is good to see the cross-party agreement on the issue. The Commissioner and I also went to the home of Jordell’s family, and met his mother, other relatives and friends. I recall when I wished him well as a member of the Anguillian culinary team, of whom he was a member.”
The Statement read by the Chief Minister was as follows:
“Fellow Anguillians, it with an aching heart that I address you this afternoon. Once again a young man with a brilliant future before him has been cut down. This senseless killing of our youth has to stop! From as far back as 2011, I have tried to highlight from time to time this growing trend of serious crimes and in particular gun crimes that have been plaguing our island. Again on 31st May 2012, I addressed the People of Anguilla on what I felt is a problem that we as Anguillians have to put emphasis and focus on. I asked the Governor publicly, after discussing this issue privately many times to bring in professional experts to tackle this grave issue.
“It pains me that again I am addressing Anguilla on this issue.
“I wish again to express my condolences to all the various families for what clearly has to be recognized by all as a national crisis.
“In 2006, I recalled, that we had six unsolved murders and over the years, we have been progressively having serious crimes committed on our soil which still have a great number remaining unsolved
“InAnguillaat the moment, I am listening to our people express their fear, frustrations and inability to be free in their own land
“I have received a letter from concerned citizens expressing their horror. They are asking that special attention be given to this plague besetting our island. I wish to thank them for their proffered support. It is my intention to form a wide-based committee drawn from various sectors from the community including youth with positive and progressive thoughts to grapple with the problem and to advise Government of possible solutions. This I hope will start functioning within the next 2 days.
“In addition I have made contact utilizing our UK representative with experts from the USA, Argentina, Jamaica and the United Kingdomwhose specialties includes gang violence, gun crimes and other serious crimes. I am hoping that this information can be shared with our police and also with the national group which so that together we can tackle the problem from a community level and from an enforcement level.
“The one thing that I ask of our people is to remember the values from which all of us came, that started in the home.
“Meanwhile my Government again joins with me in expressing heartfelt sympathy to all the members of the bereaved families.”
