标签： Barbados

A 54-year-old homeless man has received a total of 120 days of prison time after pleading guilty to three separate offenses including trespassing on an empty private property, damaging property, and threatening violence against his former roommate. Everett Nigel Worrell, who has no fixed address, was handed down the concurrent sentences at the No. 2 District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court earlier this month, according to official court documents.

The most recent charges stem from an incident where Worrell broke into a vacant property listed for sale in St. James. According to testimony given by Police Constable Cindy Greaves, the property’s caretaker received an anonymous tip that an unauthorized individual had been occupying the empty home. When the caretaker and a local carpenter traveled to the St. James residence to investigate, they confirmed that someone was indeed living inside the property that was supposed to be vacant. The team also discovered that one of the entry locks had been damaged by Worrell to gain access, so they replaced the broken lock and contacted law enforcement to report the unauthorized occupation, leading to Worrell’s subsequent arrest.

In a separate incident that unfolded back on June 15, Worrell pleaded guilty to using threatening language against his former roommate Mark Griffith, with whom he had shared a residence for roughly a year. The court heard details of how the confrontation began: Griffith returned home one afternoon to find that Worrell’s dog was blocking the main entry to the home. Griffith asked Worrell to move the dog, and Worrell eventually repositioned it outside of Griffith’s bedroom door. Griffith then yelled at the dog to get it to move again, which appeared to anger Worrell. After Griffith changed clothes and left the house, the conflict escalated when he returned later that evening. Upon his arrival, Griffith discovered his bed had been soaked, prompting him to go outside to speak to the property’s caretaker about the incident. While Griffith was outside waiting for the caretaker, Worrell followed him out and began shouting aggressive threats, including the statement “I gine kill you, ya **”, which caused Griffith to fear for his personal safety and flee the residence immediately.

Acting Magistrate Shakieda Sealy handed down the sentencing on July 11. For the charge of trespassing, Worrell received a 120-day prison sentence. He was also given 30-day sentences for the charges of threatening language and criminal damage to the door lock, with all three sentences scheduled to run at the same time, meaning he will serve a total of 120 days behind bars.

A guilty verdict has been handed down against Jason Ricardo Layne, a Barbados man from Leadvale, Christ Church, in the murder of his brother Anthony “Bubba” Layne, after the defendant failed to return to court midway through his trial at the No. 3 Supreme Court. Following closing arguments from presiding Justice Carlisle Greaves, the 12-member jury delivered the conviction, closing a key chapter in a 2020 fatal shooting case that saw four people indicted in total.

Layne was the last defendant to go through jury proceedings, as three co-accused have already entered guilty pleas at different stages of the legal process. Ade Omotunde Blackman, a resident of River Land, St Philip, pled guilty to the murder charge before the trial officially got underway. Two other co-defendants – Oshea Kai Greenidge of Ruby, St Philip, and Shawn Crookendale of Skeetes Road, St Michael – entered their guilty pleas after trial proceedings began.

At the time of the trial, Layne had been released on bail, and he failed to reappear at the Supreme Court after the prosecution and defence presented multiple days of witness testimony and evidence. Justice Greaves made the rare decision to continue the trial in Layne’s absence, with the prosecution team led by Acting Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Krystal Delaney, supported by acting Senior State Counsel Anastacia McMeo-Boyce and State Counsel Kwame Ramsay. Layne’s legal team, Lesley Cargill-Straker and Kristin Vanderpool, remained to represent his interests throughout the in-absentia proceeding.

A critical pillar of the prosecution’s case came from the two co-accused who turned state’s evidence as part of a court-approved plea-bargain agreement: Blackman and Greenidge both took the stand to testify for the prosecution against Layne.

Blackman detailed the entire conspiracy in his court testimony, explaining that Greenidge first approached him with an offer from a friend – Jason Layne – who was locked in a bitter dispute with his brother and wanted to arrange his killing. According to Blackman’s account, Layne offered to pay him BDS $20,000 to carry out the shooting, and the three co-conspirators worked together to map out the exact time, location, and logistics of the attack. After the initial plot was finalized, the group brought in Crookendale to act as the getaway driver, Blackman testified.

Blackman walked the jury through the step-by-step execution of the plan on June 4, 2020. He told the court he left his home wearing casual clothing – shorts, a vest, and slippers – and carried a separate bag holding a disguise: a long-sleeved grey shirt, a reflective work jacket, long trousers, and a loaded Glock .357 pistol with nine rounds of ammunition. He met Greenidge, got into Greenidge’s car, and changed into his disguise before the pair received a urgent call from Layne instructing them to rush to the agreed meeting point.

When they arrived at the pre-arranged bushy area, they met Crookendale who was waiting behind the wheel of a stolen rental vehicle. Blackman installed false license plates on the rental car before getting inside, and Crookendale dropped him off at the back of a residential development in Leadvale, close to where Anthony Layne would arrive.

Blackman described the final moments of the assassination to the court: “I walked the road with a white shirt over my head Taliban-style. While I was there, I acted like I was cutting grass. Anthony Layne drove down and reversed and parked near a container and rolled down the window, looking at me suspicious. I waved at him. He did not wave back at me and rolled back up his car window. When he did this, I ran to the car and fired through the car window.”

Blackman, represented by defence attorney Kyle Walkes, has already been sentenced to life imprisonment with an initial 45-year tariff before he can apply for parole. After deductions for his early guilty plea, time already served in remand custody, and mitigating factors related to his cooperation with the prosecution, 21 years and 220 days remain on his sentence before he becomes eligible for parole.

Greenidge, represented by Senior Counsel Angella Mitchell-Gittens, also received a life sentence, with an initial 30-year tariff that was increased by five years to account for aggravating circumstances in his role in the plot. He received a 25% sentencing discount because he entered his guilty plea after the trial started, along with additional reductions for time served and his cooperation as a prosecution witness. Greenidge will have to serve 22 years and 172 days at Dodds Prison before he can be considered for early release.

Justice Greaves has scheduled the sentencing of both Jason Layne and Shawn Crookendale for December 4. Crookendale is currently represented by defence lawyers Sade Harris and Elan Greenidge, and remains in custody ahead of his sentencing hearing.

Across Barbados, agricultural extension specialists are sounding the alarm over rising fungal infection rates in popular cucurbit crops, including pumpkins, squash and watermelons, linking the growing risk to longstanding gaps in sustainable planting practices among local producers. Two of the island’s leading agricultural bodies, the Barbados Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (BADMC) and the Barbados Agricultural Society (BAS), have outlined the interconnected structural and practice-based barriers that leave vulnerable crops exposed to persistent soil-borne pathogens.

A tight-knit Barbadian community in Crab Hill, St Lucy, is grappling with unthinkable grief after an early-morning house fire claimed the life of 70-something-year-old Janice Straker, bringing a close to a decades-long partnership with her husband Anthony “Richard” Straker that spanned more than four decades of marriage and 50 years together.

The tragedy unfolded shortly before 7 a.m. on Thursday, when Anthony Straker returned to his family home to a devastating scene: the entire structure was already engulfed in thick, choking flames. Desperate to reach his wife and three grandchildren who were inside sleeping, he forced open the front door, only to be driven back by a wall of roiling smoke and searing heat that made entry impossible.

“I opened the door, and all I got was fire and smoke… I had to turn back,” a devastated Anthony Straker recalled in the aftermath of the blaze. He immediately ran around the perimeter of the burning home, shouting for his family, as neighbours who had spotted the smoke began pouring into the area to help.

In a small moment of spared loss, the three grandchildren inside managed to escape the flames with the help of an older granddaughter who was also in the home. But Janice Straker, who had lived in the community for decades and was a well-loved fixture locally, never made it out. Rescuers eventually pulled her unconscious body from near the back door of the home, but she could not be revived and succumbed to her burn and smoke inhalation injuries.

Neighbours and passersby did not hold back in their frantic efforts to save Straker and extinguish the blaze before first responders arrived. Residents dragged garden hoses to the property, attempted to smash through windows to reach trapped residents, and risked their own safety to search the burning structure. Among those who rushed to help was Dwayne Griffith, a local resident who was en route to his job when he spotted smoke billowing from the Straker home.

Griffith told reporters he did not hesitate to stop and join the rescue effort. “I told myself I had to get in the house, and I tried my best to get inside,” he said. The rescue attempt left Griffith with multiple bruises from navigating the damaged, smoke-filled structure, and he later sought medical treatment for smoke inhalation. Like many in the community, he said he was relieved the children survived, but shattered by the loss of Janice Straker.

St Lucy Member of Parliament Peter Phillips arrived at the scene shortly after receiving emergency calls about the fire, and told reporters that the entire close-knit Crab Hill community has been shaken by the sudden loss. Phillips noted that in the small, tight community, residents have a long tradition of looking out for one another, and the response to the fire reflected that bonds of neighbourhood solidarity.

“I want to thank the people of the Crab Hill community who have responded and have been supporting this family wonderfully through this terrible time,” Phillips said. He added that Janice Straker was an active, beloved member of both the local neighbourhood and the Selah Methodist Church, and that her loss is felt across the entire district.

“This community has lost a wonderful woman, and the Straker family has lost a loving mother, aunt, and partner,” Phillips said. In the wake of the fire that left the entire Straker family homeless, the MP confirmed he has already reached out to local social services agencies to coordinate emergency housing, financial, and emotional support for the surviving family members as they navigate their loss and begin to pick up the pieces.

For Anthony Straker, the loss is irreplaceable. “I’m devastated, you know, because we were together for over 50 years. We were married 40-odd years, and she was there for our family through everything,” he said. “She was a lovely, beautiful woman.”

A quiet residential community in northern Barbados is reeling from grief after a fatal overnight house fire claimed the life of a local grandmother early Thursday morning. The blaze broke out at a single-family home located at 1 Crab Hill, St Lucy, trapping 73-year-old Janice Straker inside the structure as flames and thick smoke quickly spread through the property. Three of Straker’s grandchildren were in the home when the fire ignited, but all three managed to escape the blaze without serious harm, according to early accounts from the family.

Janice Straker’s husband of more than 50 years, Richard Straker, told reporters he arrived back at the property just before 7 a.m. and was confronted by the full scope of the inferno. Desperate to save his wife, Richard attempted to force his way into the burning home to reach her, but intense heat, thick toxic smoke and roaring flames pushed him back before he could reach the trapped woman.

Neighbors living nearby, alerted by rising smoke and shouts for help, sprang into action within minutes of the fire being reported. Some grabbed personal garden water hoses to douse the flames from outside, while others joined Richard in repeated attempts to breach the burning structure to reach Janice. One of those good Samaritan rescuers, local resident Dwayne Griffith, was injured during the rescue attempt: he was treated at a local medical facility for smoke inhalation after entering the home to search for Straker.

Local authorities and elected officials arrived at the scene in the hours after the fire to support the family and assess the damage. Peter Phillips, the Member of Parliament for the St Lucy constituency, visited the site Thursday to speak with family members and first responders, and described the incident as an unfathomable tragedy that has shaken both the immediate family and the entire close-knit community.

Phillips confirmed that several extended family members have been left temporarily homeless by the fire, which destroyed the entire property. Local social services teams have already conducted on-site assessments to identify and address the family’s immediate needs for food, shelter and basic supplies. The lawmaker also used the tragedy to renew a long-standing advocacy push for dedicated emergency accommodation in northern Barbados. He argued that when families are displaced by disasters like residential fires, they should not be forced to move far from their home communities, a burden that creates additional disruption especially for school-aged children.

As of Thursday afternoon, investigators had not yet determined the exact cause of the blaze. Fire officials are continuing their examination of the scene to pinpoint what sparked the fire, with no further updates on the investigation expected until the preliminary review is complete.