St Lucian Prime Minister Kenny Anthony says he has requested the help of Scotland Yard in the investigation into the slaying of a British woman on the island.
British investigators were expected to join local efforts to solve the killing of sixty-one year old Patricia Ann Lee.
Her body was found at the bottom of a cliff in the northern part of the island last week. Admitting that St Lucia was taking a hard knock from violent crime, Prime Minister Anthony said he’d seen a level of savagery that’s unbelievable. Dr Anthony said the cycle of violence in his country was causing a lot of grief, with St Lucia’s reputation suffering as well.
Forensic Pathologist Stephen King said an autopsy showed Ms Lee died from a stab wound in the back. And in Dutch St Maarten, Holland is placing special attention on a crime wave gripping its half of the island it shares with France.
It’s putting in place a security plan for the territory. One of the main concerns highlighted by Dutch Interior Affairs Minister Johan Remkes who has been visiting the Dutch Caribbean is the need for adequate staffing of the local police force.
There are fears that rising crime will hurt Caribbean tourism.
Mr Remkes said however that Holland did not want to intervene directly as this is principally a matter for the government of the Netherlands Antilles.
A spate of crimes in Dutch St Maarten has been highlighted by several killings, robberies and other violent attacks including one on two homosexual American television producers.
That high profile incident forced the St Maarten tourism authorities into quick damage control.
Several arrests were subsequently made and the matter is now in court. The St Maarten police are also proposing to recruit officers from Suriname a former Dutch colony. Twelve people have been killed so far for this year in St Maarten, a tourism dependent Dutch territory of 16 square miles with a resident population estimated to be over thirty thousand.
The Bahamas has recorded over 50 murders in that same time period.
By AP STAFF WRITER, Castries, St. Lucia
