The manner in which Dominican national, Kenny Mitchell, a hotel worker in Anguilla, met his death at the hands of an American visitor, Mr. Scott Hapgood, in April last year, is still very much on the minds of many people.
On Friday evening, June 19, a group of persons staged a peaceful protest rally down from the Court House and across from Police Headquarters. Terron Azille, founder of the group, “Caribbean Lives Matter”, explained that it was set up “to further the cause of Kenny Mitchell.”
He went on: “Scott Hapgood was supposed to come back to face trial. However, he forfeited his bail which literally makes him an international fugitive and, so far, nothing has been done. So we started this movement to spread the word out of Anguilla, into the wider Caribbean, to try to garner support from other countries in the region – and organisations like the OECS and CARICOM. We are not sure what happened in the hotel room, but if he is an international fugitive then we should be working together to get him back.”
The accused was granted bail and allowed to return to the United States, pending the preliminary inquiry. He initially returned but later skipped bail. The Attorney General Chambers in Anguilla eventually issued a warrant for his arrest and initiated arrangements for his return to the island.
Told about the protest rally, the Attorney General’s Chambers indicated that there was nothing more for further comment than what was stated before, and that the relevant process was already in place.
