A shocking development has emerged in a string of connected gang-related killings across St. Vincent and the Grenadines: the mother of one of two men gunned down in a public shooting spree last week has been arrested and charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the death of a 19-year-old found dead in Buccament Bay over the weekend.
Rosia John, whose 29-year-old son Enrique John — also known by the alias Shoubu — was killed in a two-minute shooting rampage in Stony Ground this past Friday, will appear before the Serious Offences Court this coming Friday to face her charges. She is accused alongside 19-year-old Augustas Matthews, also a resident of Layou, in the fatal shooting of Perrance Matthews, 19, whose body was recovered along Buccament Bay’s river defence with multiple gunshot wounds to the head and chest.
In addition to the violent conspiracy and murder charges, John also faces separate counts of cocaine possession and drug trafficking. Local law enforcement rules in St. Vincent and the Grenadines prohibit bail for individuals accused of murder until a nine-month period has elapsed following arraignment, a restriction that means John will almost certainly be denied temporary release and will miss the opportunity to arrange or attend the funeral of her only child.
This is not the first time John has made headlines for involvement with the criminal justice system. Nine years prior, police were forced to restrain her outside the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court after she attempted to instruct her son to hide his face as he was led away following an arraignment on statutory rape charges. The victim in that 2015 case was a minor between the ages of 13 and 15. John was a regular presence in court for her son throughout a string of subsequent criminal hearings, and multiple charges against him remained unresolved at the time of his death.
Enrique John was not the only fatality in last Friday’s Stony Ground violence: his close associate 22-year-old Raheem Guy was also shot and killed on the sidewalk outside the Caribbean Medical Imaging Centre, while John died inside a shop at the Russells Shopping Centre. The spree marked the start of a deadly 24 hours that ended with the discovery of Perrance Matthews’ body in Buccament Bay the next day.
Local authorities and community observers have linked all three killings to long-running gang warfare across the country. The conflict pits an alliance of factions from Central Kingstown and their Layou-based associates against a rival gang based in West Kingstown. Perrance Matthews, who went by the alias “Suspect”, was reportedly a former member of one of the involved groups who had left the faction and was in the process of attempting to rejoin at the time of his death. At the time of his own killing, Enrique John was still awaiting the verdict on two outstanding attempted murder charges against him.