By Lesroy W. Williams
Observer Reporter
lesroywilliams@thestkittsnevisobserver.com
(Basseterre, St. Kitts)—Seven men are on death row in Her Majesty’s Prison, Cayon Street, Basseterre, waiting to be hanged. Justice Albert Redhead on July 15 sentenced Romeo “Buncum” Cannonier, Ruedeney “Denny” Williams, Louis “Tooloo” Gardener and Sheldon “Hatcher” Isaac to be hanged for the murder of Gavin “Magilla” Gilbert who was gunned down at his home in Saddler’s Village on March 21, 2005.
Chief Prosecutor Richard Cheltenham Q.C. of Barbados, argued that Mr. Cannonier, who is on death row for the murder of Police Constable #454 Delvin Nisbett, ordered the ‘hit’ on Mr. Gilbert from behind the prison walls. Supporting evidence showed that Williams, Gardener and Isaac carried out the ‘hit’ ordered by Mr. Cannonier because Mr. Gilbert had incriminating evidence against Cannonier in the murder case of Nisbett.
Williams, Gardener and Isaac are the latest addition to four others waiting to be hanged on death row. The other four are Mr. Romeo Cannonier who is serving two death sentences, Mr. Evanson Mitchum, sentenced on September 23, 2001, Mr. Al LaPlace, sentenced on May 30, 2006, and Mr. Travis Duporte, sentenced on July 20, 2006. All men on death row at the present time were sentenced for committing murder.
Her Majesty’s Prison is horribly overcrowded. The city block complex that serves as Police Headquarters and Prison was built in 1840 and the prison compound itself was intended to accommodate only 60 inmates. According to Franklyn Dorset, Superintendent of Prison, there are presently 269 inmates in the Federation, 267 males and 2 females. Of that number, 41 inmates are incarcerated in Nevis and 228 in St. Kitts. The prison in St. Kitts houses almost four times the number it was built to accommodate.
The last hanging in the Federation of St. Kitts-Nevis took place on July 20, 1998 when Dave Wilson, alias “Shit” of Ottley’s Village, St. Kitts, was killed by the State. Before that, Simeon Ible of Lodge Project was hanged for the murder of a pregnant woman in 1985.
Dave Wilson was convicted of murder in 1996 along with another man, Clement Thomas. They had reportedly beaten a security guard to death in 1994.
Amnesty International, the human rights body, deplored the hanging of Wilson and said that it was appalled. In a letter dated July 20, 1998 with reference AI Index: AMR 59/01/98 Amnesty International said: “What is alarming is that the execution of David Wilson took place despite the fact that he had not yet appealed to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) which acts as the final court of appeal for St. Kitts and other Caribbean Commonwealth states”.
From community accounts, Dave Wilson ended up with the nickname “Shit” because at birth his mother threw him into a shit-pit. It was the ultimate act of rejection. His inauspicious birth was followed by him spending his life at the Harris’ Home for Boys, a juvenile correction center in St. Kitts that was burnt down as an act of rebellion on the part of the juvenile delinquents who lived there. He was a poor man and not able to afford proper representation in the form of a good lawyer at his murder trial. He was tragically put to death by hanging. His birth and death were an ultimate act of rejection.
Capital Punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the execution of a person by the state as punishment for a crime. Crimes that can result in the death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from Latin “capitalis”, literally “regarding the head”. Hence a capital crime originally was to be punished by the loss of the head.
Capital Punishment has been a contentious issue in many places. Supporters of capital punishment argue that it deters crime, prevents recidivism, that it is less expensive than life imprisonment and an appropriate form of punishment for some crimes.
Opponents of capital punishment argue that it has led to the execution of wrongfully convicted, that it discriminates against minorities and the poor, that it does not deter criminals more than life imprisonment, that it encourages a “culture of violence”, that it is more expensive that life imprisonment and that it violates human rights.
Many people in the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis are in favour of the death penalty.
“You should take all of them sentenced to be hanged for murder to Independence Square and have them hanged publicly while people look on,” one proponent of the death penalty said.
In this way according to many Kittitians and Nevisians, it will send a strong message to those hell-bent on criminal activity to change course or else.
To date the Federation has recorded 13 gun-related murders for the year, averaging just about two a month.
