| Two Charged for the Murder of Elvis Stanley |
| By L.K. Hewlett |
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Joseph ‘Galvanize’ Hazel |
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Police have charged Joseph ‘Galvanize’ Hazel and Keston Martin with the murder of Elvis Stanley. Police informed The Observer that on Thursday Hazel, a resident of Bird Rock, Basseterre and Martin, of Parsons Village were officially charged with the January 26th murder.
The two were picked up on Saturday (Jan 28) and were arrested on suspicion of murdering the Old Road man. Hazel was formally arrested and charged for being in possession of 2 Kilograms of a Controlled Substance and while Police did not specify as to what the illegal substance was, The Observer was reliable informed it was cocaine.
Sometime after 11pm last Thursday Stanley, his girlfriend Maria Gumbs and her son were leaving Stanley’s bar on the Frigate Bay Strip when gunmen opened fire on the car when it reached the Anchorage Road. Stanley was hit multiple times and died on the spot while Gumbs was taken to JNF Hospital nursing gunshot wounds as well. Her son was only grazed by a bullet.
On Wednesday Forensic Pathologist Dr. Stephen Jones performed a post mortem on Stanley and concluded that death was due to gunshot injuries to the chest with hemorrhage and shock.
While initial reports indicated it may have been a robbery, The Observer understands details of the crime point to it being a calculated act perpetrated against the businessman.
On Tuesday, Clayton “Massive” Thomas took to the airwaves to profess his innocence and give his account of what transpired on Sunday when police took him into custody for questioning in connection to Stanley’s murder.
The two businessmen’s bars on the Strip are adjoined.
Thomas said he was in no way connected to the murder and had assisted police on the night in question. He explained on Sunday he was not removed from a waiting flight to New York but was detained by officers while at the airport checking in that afternoon. Thomas, who resides in New York, claims he was not fleeing the country of his birth, but was returning to his business ventures in the US as he was accustomed to doing. He admitted however that the airport scenario was “embarrassing” as he had cooperated fully before and would have willingly met with police for further questioning.
Thomas claimed that on the night Stanley was murdered he transported members of the Delta Squad to the scene and used his vehicle lights to illuminate the area while the responding officers waited for backup.
He denied rumors that he had ordered a ‘hit’ on Stanley over competition disputes, saying he had even brought Stanley a laptop when he came to St. Kitts and the two had routinely worked together and were friends.
Police had released Thomas 24 hours later without charge. Thomas said he held no animosity towards the police as they were just doing their jobs.
A Police source informed The Observer that the two men charged with Stanley’s murder are facing additional charges for wounding Gumbs and her son. Police are not revealing much as investigations are ongoing but reports are that police have in their custody a rental car believed to have been used in the commission of the murder and are looking for a second vehicle.
This is not Hazel’s first murder wrap. In 2004 he was found guilty of the January 2000 shooting to death of Tony Fetherston, a 65-year-old retired UK citizen who resided in St. Kitts.
He had been sentenced to hang before his conviction was overturned and sentence quashed by the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal in February 2007. |
