Raul Garcia vs. Bajan national Earl Victor

Fabricated murder charge dropped, but Earl Victor still held for five years

by Nora

It was the Barbados Free Press (BFP) who blew the lid on the Director of Public Prosecution Charles Leacock corruption racket. It was the BFP who exposed the Earl Victor story last year, and I thank you for your objective reporting. (BFP editor’s note: We covered Victor’s earlier arrest crossing the US Canadian border too!)

If Raul Garcia must be made whole, what about Bajan national Earl Victor who Charles Leacock has been holding in custody for almost five years without a trial and without due process of law?

“The fabricated murder charge has been dropped against Earl Victor, but Leacock and Magistrate Randall Worrell would not release the man on bail unless his poor mother comes up with $75,000 cash and land and property.”

One would think after serving 5 years at Dodds Prison without trial, with the only current charge of procession of stolen property against Mr. Victor would be home with his family. The penalty for handling stolen property in Barbados should not be an indefinite sentence. Mr. Victor’s mother is poor and and can’t afford this kind of money Leacock and Magistrate Worrell are demanding for Earl’s release from custody.

Nora

Lawyer Mark Goodridge named Queen’s Counsel – How many previously “Most Wanted by Police” are awarded QC?

QC mugshot?

Lawyer Mark Goodridge named Queen’s Counsel

“The honour which you have garnered has come at the price of your continued respect of the court system in which you work and of which you have been officers since the date of your admission to practise law,” Sir Marston told them.

“Those junior to you in years called, and in years born, will look to you for guidance and leadership. They must continue to receive it and to see it demonstrated, not only in your words, but in your actions, particularly in your respect for Her Majesty’s judges and her courts,” he said.

And with the words: “May I invite you to take your seat at the Inner Bar?”Sir Marston welcomed Deputy Solicitor General Donna Brathwaite, Speaker of Parliament Michael Carrington, Brian Clarke, Stephen Farmer, Hal Gollop, Mark Goodridge, Deputy Clerk of Parliament Nigel Jones, Milton Pierce and Stephen Walcott as new QCs.

Full story at The Nation Show Respect to Judges

I can’t remember what the end story was about Mark Goodridge…

There was some controversy about him back in 2006. Mark Goodridge and his son were charged with a racial attack on a young black man on his property, but then it all faded away without any public announcement that I saw. What was the ultimate disposition of all the happenings? Does anyone remember… because I can’t find it on the internet.

Barbados Free Press story published October 16, 2006 – Barbados Lawyer Wanted For Beating Of Teen – Thoughts Of Racial Tension, White Privilege & Black Attitudes

Canadian tourists robbed at gunpoint in room. Sex assault upon wife as husband held at gunpoint.

Commissioner ‘Do-nothing’ Dottin

Downstairs American couple also robbed at gunpoint

“Then he grabbed me inappropriately,” she said. “It felt like forever, but it was probably like a minute.”

“I’m laying there in my night dress thinking, ‘What the hell is going on?’”

The Nation News has withdrawn the original story from its website – probably to try to limit the public relations damage for the Barbados Tourism Authority – but that doesn’t stop the foreign press from reporting another violent gunpoint robbery of tourists in Barbados.

The Star newspaper in Toronto Canada is reporting that a Canadian couple was robbed at gunpoint in the Sea-U Guest House on Tuesday night. The wife was ‘touched inappropriately’ as the husband stood impudently by and made the wise decision to let his wife be sex assaulted instead of being shot.

From the news story the robbers would have kidnapped the couple had they had a rented vehicle. Another vacationing couple at the guest house was also robbed. They were from Virginia USA so the robbers took care of tourism from both the USA and Canada.

Our Commissioner of Police, “Do-nothing Dottin” had this to say about the tourist robberies… (nothing at all)

Meanwhile in other news two men shot at Barbados Water Authority employees last night, and a home was burned to the ground after someone tossed a Molotov cocktail.

Wonderful. Just wonderful. Just f’ing wonderful.

The local press can ignore violent tourist robberies all they want, but there is this little thing called The Internet where 90% of people research their vacations before deciding on the destination. When the politicians finally decide to care about the quality of life on this rock for all of us including the tourists, they can take a few logical steps…

1. Fire Do-nothing Dottin
2. Raise police salaries enough to attract the kind of police candidates that Barbados deserves
3. Hire 100 new officers immediately to bring the RBPF up to strength.

Until all that happens and we see some improvements, be prepared to read more stories in the foreign press like this, while watching the tourism revenues tank…

York U profs robbed at gunpoint in Barbados

… from The Star, Toronto Canada Published on Thursday, April 25, 2013

Intruders in plaid shorts and bandanas entered their guesthouse and demanded money, access to the safe and a car, before doing the same in another unit. 

Time for citizen oversight and control of lawyers

Formerly crooked lawyer David Bryan turns from camera at court

Thieving lawyers shouldn’t be in charge of themselves

by Passin thru

Lawyers are one of the few groups in our society who get to set their own rules and are allowed to discipline their own wayward children without being accountable to anyone except themselves.

Now the lawyers are having a fight over paying dues to the Barbados Bar Association. You might remember this is the same Barbados Bar Association that usually lets thieving lawyers repay stolen money to not go to jail. Regular thieves don’t usually get such a deal in the courts!

And when citizens dare mention how many crooked lawyers there are, the Barbados Bar Association blames the victims – the public – for choosing crooked lawyers “at random”!

“If the lawyers don’t respect their own Bar Association enough to pay fees, then it’s time for the citizens to step in.”

I’d call upon Parliament to set up a citizens’ committee to provide oversight and discipline to lawyers, but too many of the MPs are lawyers themselves so the likelihood of change is about the square root of zero.

What an incestuous bunch they are and it’s all out of control at the moment.

Over the High Court

A High Court judge will have to determine whether lawyers are obligated to pay annual fees to the Barbados Bar Association to practise.

The association’s council has decided to take the matter to court because many attorneys at law refuse to pay the fees, but are still working.

Junior Campbell: Barbados Human Trafficking arrests are too late for many

“I also have difficulty with the assumption that men are the only people those women have to fear.

Information at my disposal suggests that there are more than a few violence-prone, bullying ‘madams’ operating in Barbados.”

by Junior Campbell, All Voices

The first arrests for human trafficking by Barbadian authorities may have done little to reassure the US State Department about the country’s commitment to addressing this stain to its human rights record.

This seems to be the gist of a story appearing in the Nation newspaper today. Under the headline “Ring busted,” the local paper reports, “Police have smashed what they believe is a human trafficking ring here, and for the first time have charged individuals with this crime.
“As a result, a man and a woman will appear in court today jointly charged with human trafficking,” it continues.

And Inspector David Welch, the Royal Barbados Police Force’s (RBPF) public relations officer, is said to have confirmed that “the two were charged following a police raid of a bar in Nelson Street, The City, last Thursday.”

The paper also credits unnamed “reliable sources” for informing it that the man, a 22-year-old and the bar’s 36-year-old proprietress were arrested after police found five Guyanese women, dressed only in bathing suits, working in the bar.

“The five were between 17 and 21 years old” the report continues. It also says that investigations revealed that the women were not in possession of their passports and documentations and that there was evidence that they were part of a regional trafficking operation.

Passports are usually held by sex traffickers and other traders in human degradation and misery to prevent those they exploit from fleeing escaping their clutches. 

Queen’s Counsel apologizes to High Court Justice, but…

The unnamed lawyer in our original story has been named as Alair Shepherd, Queen’s Counsel. Mr. Shepherd has apologized to High Court Justice Dr Sonia Richards, but the full story in the Nation tells the all-too-familiar tale of a broken court system where the focus is on process, not on results or justice.

Mr. Shepherd should not have done what he did, but in a court system where civil cases often take 15 or 20 years to reach trial we can expect to see the rivets starting to pop as the pressure builds on the boiler call the Barbados Courts. (By the way, why is Chief Justice Gibson in South Africa? Shouldn’t he be staying at home and trying to clean up this mess?)

Here’s the article from the Nation. Please read it at their website here, but unfortunately we have to print it all here because if we don’t, they will change the story as it suits the changing politics.

Sorry!

Queen’s Counsel Alair Shepherd – the man at the centre of the outburst involving High Court Justice Dr Sonia Richards last week – has confirmed that he apologized to her, but said the incident was a result of his frustration over the administration of justice.

In an interview with the DAILY NATION yesterday, Shepherd said his behaviour before the judge should not detract from the real issue, which was the continuing delay of an extremely important case touching on the ability of the Royal Barbados Police Force (RBPF) to discharge its duties.

Last Monday, Shepherd had an outburst before the judge. He then backed Justice Richards, raised his robe and bent over.

55 Celebrity Eclipse cruise ship passengers robbed at gunpoint in St Lucia

Broken leg for one woman as 3 robbers take all money and jewellery

It looks like the economy is tanking all over the Caribbean because the predators are on the prowl everywhere…

Cruise passengers robbed at gunpoint in St Lucia

Dozens of cruise passengers – including ten Britons – were robbed at gunpoint last week during an excursion on the Caribbean island of St Lucia.

Celebrity Cruises confirmed that 55 passengers and two crew members were visiting the Botanical Gardens in Soufriere on Friday when the incident occurred. The trip was one of there shore excursions in St Lucia offered to passengers making the two-week cruise holiday on board the vessel Celebrity Eclipse.

Tourism officials described the incident as “rare” and “unfortunate”, but said no-one was hurt. However, a member of the internet forum Cruise Critic currently on the same voyage claimed a woman had fallen and broken her leg during the robbery.

“We are on the Eclipse,” they wrote. “Yesterday we were ported in St. Lucia. One of the ship tours was robbed at gun point by three masked gunmen. We were not on the tour, but friends were. They said one woman fell and broke her leg; no one else was injured. All their money and jewellery were taken.”

… continue reading this article at the Telegraph UK

Also see Cruise Critic for more details from a passenger

Customer says DHL Express showing “total disrespect” after electronics go missing from DHL’s security cage.

Valuables stolen while in the care of DHL Express in Barbados – customer gets runaround

Alden Blackman is out Bd$1112.91 after electronics he ordered from China went missing while in the care of DHL Express in Barbados. These things happen and are happening more and more as the economy tanks and people are out of work, but Mr. Blackman’s complaint is that DHL Express in Barbados is not acting responsibly to replace the loss.

It all boils down to this: The equipment went missing after it arrived in Barbados and was in the DHL Express security cage. DHL Express should move quickly to make things better and they should be communicating frequently and accurately with Mr. Blackman, but according to Mr. Blackman he has been told that the claim process has started, but that’s not true.

It’s enough to drive a body mad. Whatever happened, you’d think that DHL Express would put somebody to handle this quickly. After a month of runaround Mr. Blackman has gone to his fellow Bajans to let them know that valuables get stolen while in the care of DHL Express and when that happens nobody at DHL Express cares enough to take care of the customer.

BFP will print DHL’s version of events if they want to email us at barbadosfreepress(at)yahoo.com

Here’s what Mr. Blackman wrote to DHL Express and the DHL Letter sent to the customer…

Crimes against tourists up 50 percent over last year

Folks, it seems to me that we should be in a full scale emergency mode over the revelations by our Royal Barbados Police Force that everything is going to hell on the south coast.

Economic terrorism is what it is alright, but the stage was set ten years ago when the political class de-funded the police to the extent that very few new recruits are of the quality that Bajans deserve.

But Nevermind the pointing fingers: we doan fix this real soon and you can kiss the economy goodbye even more than we’re already doing.

Time for action. No time left for “community meetings” or “searching for the root cause of crime”.

Time the police opened a new can of Whoop Ass…

Big jump in tourists crime

Crime against visitors are up by almost 50 per cent for the year.

Barbados lawyer shows backside to judge, tells her to “Kiss my Ass”… and the judge runs away!

How much is rumour? How much it true?

I don’t know much about normal behaviours by lawyers and judges because I try to avoid contact with those kinds of people at all costs. What really happened in the Nation’s story? Who are the people?

But I have a feeling that when this type of behaviour goes unpunished (if it happened as rumoured), it’s really all over. And what’s with the judge running away? What does that say about how the judge views her authority? What the #$@! is happening ’bout hey?

Hopefully this will not be another incident like gun in Parliament where the public were left not knowing what really happened but the respect for Parliament was undermined.

From The Nation…

Legal Shocker!

AN INCIDENT earlier this week involving a veteran attorney at law and a High Court judge has left the legal fraternity in an uproar.

According to reports a Queen’s Counsel after a verbal outburst directed at the female judge, turned around and backed her, lifted his robe and bent over while uttering a profanity.

Crimes against tourists “Economic terrorism” but Barbados Bar Association says that’s not as important as everyone being shot in an equal manner

“The road is closed. I need ten dollars.”

Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association wants special courts for tourist crimes – Lawyers say no way

by passin thru

We have a problem on this island right now – crimes against locals and tourists alike have skyrocketed, including street robberies where people are injured. Old folks pushed down for their bags or slammed in the face as the evil creatures grab their chains or tear off their rings. I heard one story a few weeks ago where the robber carried a small dishsoap bottle and shoved the old lady down breaking her glasses then out with the soap and rip off those rings. That’s getting vicious even for some of the badd boys on the block.

A single crime against one tourist is economic terrorism.

The badd boys on the block have to know that if they touch a tourist, the police are going to hunt them down and the court is going to give them double.

Lately two British tourists off a cruise ship got shot on a Sunday afternoon walking in the daylight. Word of that spread and the rest of the tourists headed back to the boat lickity split. Just like what happens when you drop an elevator full of people in New York City – businesses leave that office building, and they don’t renew their leases no matter how much you lower the rent. You can tell ‘em all the time that the elevators are fixed, inspected, repaired, replaced, brand new… tell ‘em what you want but once you drop an elevator full of people in New York City it’s all over for five years because so many other buildings rent office space and they haven’t dropped any elevators lately.

Barbados has dropped a whole lot of elevators lately when it comes to crimes against tourists. What you what? We got it! Unsolved rapes with the wrong man in jail for two years? Check. Tourists shot off the cruise boats or walking near their hotel? Check. Tourists beaten on the beach trying to stop a purse grab? How many you want? Boscobel Toll Gang? Still in business as strong as ever. Long Beach rapes for two years and police did nothing until some poor tourist died? We had that too and the police never did find who was torturing all those dogs and hanging them in the bushy ridge. A person who would do that to a dog is a big danger to everyone, but the police say “It’s only a dog”.

Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA), president Patricia Affonso-Dass says that a special court should be established for dealing with crimes against tourists. The Bar Association says that is unfair because it means that a crime against a citizen is then viewed as less serious.

Wide-eyed tourists are like little children and deserve more protection

I agree with the BHTA. Some crimes against certain victims are more serious. Crimes against children are always viewed more seriously because we know that the children can’t protect themselves as well as adults can.

It’s the same thing with tourists. They are like little children when they walk these fields and hills and streets and beaches and it is up to Barbados to protect them and look after them more than we normally do with adults.

And if we don’t look after the tourists specially, you know that St. Lucia or Cuba would be happy to take special care of them.

Winston Churchill once said “The inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.”

I’ll change that and say that “The inherent virtue of equal status for all victims is the equal sharing of no tourist revenues.”

It’s the best I can do on a Thursday morning before work.

passin thru

MZ251 – Turn yourself in to the Royal Barbados Police Force

click photo for large

At about 2pm today, Tuesday March 26th, my husband and I were in the car at the busy intersection by Patisserie Flindt and the Limegrove Mall, traffic coming from all 4 directions, when we witnessed these 2 motor cycles popping wheelies while overtaking the line of cars.  Just seconds before this, we witnessed these same 2 bikes plus 2 more and an ATV coming down the hill by St James Secondary School, and the ATV plus 2 of the dirt bikes were popping wheelies as they approached the junction.

With the license number so readily available, why is it that the Police will not do anything?

We live on the main west coast road and we witness these dirt bikes pulling the same stunts up and down the road every day. The stunts are dangerous and the bikes are excessively loud. The main west coast road is lined with nothing but expensive holiday homes on both sides between Holetown and Speightstown. Imagine what the tourists must think of this, or the fear they must have when witnessing such dangerous and disgusting behaviour. Our tourism product already has not got a good name without adding this to the mix.

click photos for large

Was Derek Crawford beaten by police to make him confess to rape?

Call for police video-recording of confession statements

Cheerful Commissioner Dottin ignores calls for police reform

Derek Crawford was originally charged with the rape of two visitors to Barbados – Rachel Turner and Diane Davies.

When both women said the police had the wrong man the case exploded in the worldwide news with the incompetence and brutality of the Royal Barbados Police Force front and center in the questions.

The Police Commissioner said that Crawford “confessed” to the rapes and particular knowledge of the crimes. Mr. Crawford said he signed the confession after the police suffocated and beat him. He said he would have signed anything, and BFP regular Mark Fenty agreed, saying,

“Of course Crawford confessed to a particular knowledge of the crime, who wouldn’t? How long could one man tolerate a serious beating at the CID?”

BFP reader Mark Fenty on Commissioner Dottin says accused rapist Derick Crawford confessed

We know how it is ’bout hey and we believe Derek Crawford. We believe him well. Clinton Norton and a few others would believe Crawford too, except Norton is dead in strange circumstances and some folks say the police did it. In case you’ve forgotten, somebody tortured Clinton Norton to death. He was found with blood in his lungs and sand in his nostrils and mouth – dead inside a store burglary with no sand on the floor. There’s not many stories about Clinton Norton in the local news media, nothing to see hear and we don’t like to raise that kind of thing – bad for the tourist business.

Meanwhile British Member of Parliament Sephen McPartland just called upon the Foreign Office to warn that Barbados is “not a safe place” for women travelers…

 ”I firmly believe that Barbados is not a safe place for British women to travel to as there is a rapist on the loose.

“The police have failed to reopen the case and they have failed to get Rachel justice.

“The Foreign Office should update their travel advice and make it clear that Barbados is not a safe place to travel and warn British tourists to stay away.

“Maybe then, the authorities in Barbados will make the police reopen the case and find this rapist.”

Member of Parliament Sephen McPartland quoted at BBC Barbados rapes: MP warns travellers island is ‘unsafe’

DNA? Modern police methods and investigations?

Why bother with that when you can grab a likely looker – maybe the same general description like the witness says – and then beat the hell out of ‘im til he confess! That’s a good description of police work in Barbados for many Constables. Former RBPF Constable (now a lawyer) Stephen Alleyne wants the police to video confessions from suspects.

Bajans have wanted video confessions for 20 years and more. We know how things are on this rock.

Mr. Alleyne is spitting by de road – makes him feel good but accomplish nothing!

Under Scrutiny: Time to record all confessions

By Stephen Alleyne

As the recent dismissal of two cases against Barbadian national Derek Crawford for the alleged rape of two British women continues to make news in the United Kingdom, this is an opportune time to call on Government to complete the facilities for the video and audio recording of confession statements from accused persons without further delay.

In the Crawford case, the police were seeking to rely on a statement they said was voluntarily made by Crawford in accordance with the Judges’ Rules (a set of rules first issued by the Judges of the King’s Bench Division of the United Kingdom in 1912 and revised from time to time giving guidelines to investigators on the procedure they should follow in the detaining, questioning and recording of confessions from suspects), but the two victims of the crime were adamant Crawford was not the man who raped them, resulting in the prosecution discontinuing the case.

This assertion by the two women therefore raises a number of questions about the statement the police purportedly recorded from Crawford. Did Crawford make the statement in the first place? If he did, was it because of acts of oppression or coercion visited on him that forced him to do so? And if he did because of acts of oppression, was the statement in any event true or did he make them to avoid further oppression? Because of their present method of recording confession statements, the police, in the absence of additional physical and/or scientific evidence, will find it difficult to answer these questions, as demonstrated by the Commissioner’s failed attempt to do so in a media conference.

… continue reading this article at The Barbados Advocate – Time to record all confessions

Margaret Parsons tells her side of the Ralph Gonsalves sex assault story

Two British tourists shot in broad daylight – Sunday afternoon walkabout in Bridgetown

UPDATED: Latest radio reports indicate a purse snatching – and when the tourists resisted both were shot.

Does the Barbados Tourism Authority have an action team in place now?

Serious Injuries: 70 year-old man shot in side, woman shot in thigh

The debate over the ‘cash for gold’ businesses and the growing number of street robberies took another serious turn today when two elderly tourists were shot in broad daylight in the city. We are speculating that the motive was robbery because precious little information has made its way to the television and radio even 7 hours after the first report.

“Two tourists shot on a Sunday in broad daylight? Everybody should be working full days to find out what happened and to arrest those responsible.

We should be looking after the injured tourists and keeping their loved-ones informed.

We’re only talking our entire economy here, ya know!”

What we do know is contained in the Nation article below.

There are good and bad things happen to tourists all over the world, but Barbados has to this point maintained a reputation as a generally safe destination as long as people use the same care that they would when back home – doan be walking down dark sidestreets at 2am and expect nothing to happen. That is true in Paris, London, New York and Bridgetown.

On the other hand, if two elderly tourists can’t be safe on Hincks Street at 2pm on a Sunday afternoon, then we have some real, heavy trouble.

Were they from a cruise ship or yacht? Perhaps taking a long walkabout? Did they take a taxi into the city for some shopping? That might be the case. On the other hand (and we are just wild talking here) suppose that the two tourists were trying to purchase drugs or engaging in some other high risk activity? This is just wild talking on are part to make the point that the information matters, and getting that information to the public matters too. Is there a madman on the run? Was this a robbery that went bad? Was it fallout from a domestic dispute? Bajans should know something more by this time than we currently know.

Only last week a Brit wrote to Barbados Free Press and said he and his wife wouldn’t be returning. (See BFP’s “With great sadness and best wishes” a British tourist says goodbye to Barbados forever)

What is known so far…     

Barbados solution to 20-year court backlog: throw it all out, nevermind justice and the victims

How long would any Harlequin Resorts court cases take to reach trial?

by Nevermind Kurt

Sophisticated business and financial industry investors have long had the word: civil cases in Barbados take at least 10 years and often up to 20 years to make their way through the courts. Many court cases never finish because witnesses, victims, plaintiffs, defendants, lawyers and judges move away or die.

When cases take 15 or 20 years to get to trial, people often die or go broke – or both. After 15 or 20 years plaintiffs can no longer afford their lawyers. Defendants go bankrupt (sometimes planned) – leaving victims no real prospect of recovering anything.

“New business investors in Barbados now make their decisions accordingly in the knowledge that if things go wrong there will probably be no real recourse through a lawsuit.”

But consider what this means for existing investors and business people who didn’t know about the state of our courts when they made their original decisions about doing business or entering into legal contracts in Barbados. Consider what this means now for all those potential Harlequin victims. If they want justice in Barbados, they have two choices: be prepared to spend the next decade or two and tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees in pursuit of justice, or walk away.

“Chief Justice Marston Gibson: Court chaos threatens Barbados international business sector

Marston Gibson describes massive backlog, missing case files, deliberate delaying tactics by unscrupulous profiteering lawyers”

from BFP’s March 12, 2012 article: Shocking mathematics of the Barbados Court system: Thousands of cases will never reach conclusion

The reality of the court system in Barbados

Faced with an unbelievable backlog approaching 3000 cases, Chief Justice SIR Marston Gibson has decided to give thousands of folks a shove to abandon all hope for justice through the courts of Barbados.

“With great sadness and best wishes” a British tourist says goodbye to Barbados forever

Daytime tourist robbery costs us another loyal visitor

Dear Sir/Madam

I have today read the report of Barry Alleyne concerning the theft of jewellery from visitors and tourists. I believe the problem is far worse than perceived and is being suppressed/under-reported. I am not convinced that the police have any effective crime pattern analysis to know where they should be actively patrolling, advising visitors and undertaking their duty of protection of all people, and especially tourists.

On Friday 1 March 2013, in Bay Street near Harbour Lights, my wife was violently assaulted, injured and robbed of two valuable necklaces, by two young local low-life, cowardly, vile thugs. The police were less than effective in their caring treatment of my wife and their lack of effective evidence gathering left me less than impressed or confident in they had the resources or ability to gather evidence or investigate crime in a meaningful manner.

We have walked this route many times having been advised it was safe to do so. It can no longer currently be regarded as safe for tourists.

The disturbing aspect for Barbadian authorities is that this violent robbery took place in broad daylight, just after nine in the morning, during the rush hour with many witnesses. Some serious questions now need answering by the various Authorities and politicians.

“We have been coming to Barbados for many years since my wife loves the island and climate for her health, and loves the many friends and decent hard-working Bajan people that we have met.”

However, my duty is to protect my wife from unnecessary risk. It had been our intention to return to Barbados year on year for as long as we could afford it and were healthy enough to do it. We were already booked to come next year. I am now intending to cancel this with great sadness and it is likely we will never return. There are many safer places for tourists. I will be advising my extended family accordingly, as well as writing to the many contacts I have within the UK tourism industry including large Cruise companies, the UK police, Foreign Office and others.

This robbery, of course, is my main distress, but there are many other visitors who agree that other serious issues are fast going downhill here and need addressing.

All Sugar Hill Resort staff to be fingerprinted by police. No refusals allowed.

click image for police letter demanding staff fingerprints

Dear Barbados Free Press:

The police are requesting that all staff and contractors at Sugar Hill voluntarily submit for fingerprinting in relation to some break-ins at the resort. Is this legal? Will they also be fingerprinting guests who stayed at the resort? What about friends of owners? People eating at the restaurant during that time?  What will happen to the fingerprints?

This seems wrong and a bit racist. While it appears voluntary, there seems that there might be consequences if you refuse.

Has this fingerprinting been done before at other crime scenes? If something was stolen at a school will the police now be fingerprinting all students and all teachers? If something was stolen at Parliament, will Miss Mottley and Mr. Stuart “be first in line” like Sugar Hill Resort’s operations manager volunteers? Where is this going? Is this the new normal for the Barbados Police?

Concerned

The email from Sugar Hill Resort management…

From: sugarhill
Date: 6 March 2013
To:
Subject: RBPF Finger Printing Staff at Sugar Hill

Dear All,

As you are aware our file was passed to the Major Crimes Department in the Royal Barbados Police Force (RBPF). They have requested that all Staff with access to the Estate be finger printed as they are in possession of some forensic evidence, finger prints, from properties that suffered burglaries. See attached their letter of request.