标签： Saint Lucia

Days before one of the most cherished holidays for families across the globe, a brutal shooting on Marchand Boulevard claimed two lives, leaving tight-knit communities in Saint Lucia reeling from senseless violence. The first victim, 64-year-old Charmaine Pearl Ramsay, a 22-year veteran of the local police force and mother of five surviving children, was killed instantly in the Saturday night attack on May 9. A second victim, 38-year-old Sheston Duncan, succumbed to his critical injuries just hours later after being rushed to a nearby hospital.

In the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, Ramsay’s eldest son, whose identity has been withheld by authorities for personal security, spoke publicly with reporters to share his family’s overwhelming grief. Fighting back tears, he described his mother as a relentless, devoted parent who never once let him down throughout his 28 years of life. “I never imagined my mother would lose her life in that kind of way,” he told reporters. “For the kind of person my mother was, I never thought I would lose her to such violence.”

Ramsay, who spent more than two decades serving the community as a police officer, shaped her son’s entire upbringing through the values of honesty, accountability and unwavering support she instilled in him. Even in his adult years, she remained a constant, caring presence: cleaning his home, washing his clothes, and showing up for him in every challenge and milestone. When asked what he would miss most, he highlighted this unshakable commitment. “In every aspect of my life, my mother would always come and represent me no matter what it be,” he said.

The grieving son recalled the chaotic, terrifying moments after the shooting that still haunt him. He was at his own home nearby when he heard a volley of gunshots ring out across the neighborhood, but had no idea his mother was caught in the crossfire. It was only when he walked toward her home to check on her that a neighbor broke the devastating news. “When I go there, I see my mother lying there, lifeless already,” he said. “I feel like I was just losing my brains at the moment.” Still, he said he is clinging to his faith and the lessons his mother taught him to stay strong for the rest of his family. “I already gave my life to Christ, so I just consider I have to pray and let life take its course.” To this day, he says he cannot fathom any motive for killing his mother, who dedicated her life to protecting and supporting her community.

A close friend of Ramsay, who had planned a joyful Mother’s Day celebration with the victim just days before, shared her own heartbreak over the killing. The two had arranged to attend church together, then spend the evening dancing in honor of the holiday. “And look at how the lady pass away,” she said in disbelief. Like many residents, she is now calling for an immediate end to the wave of violence that has shaken the neighborhood. She warned that innocent bystanders—especially children—face constant risk as violent incidents continue to plague the area. After the shooting, fear has spread so widely that local parents are keeping their children home from school, she confirmed. “A mother called the principal and said she not sending her children to school because of what happened,” she said. In an emotional appeal to those behind the violence, she urged them to lay down their weapons. “All those who are doing violent things, stop it, please. Have mercy on everybody else because all of us have family.”

Top political leaders have also weighed in on the tragedy, condemning the brutal killings and pledging action to bring those responsible to justice. Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre, who also serves as Parliamentary Representative for Castries East, released a formal statement via his official Facebook page expressing his deep sorrow over the deaths. “As Parliamentary Representative, I am deeply saddened by the homicides that occurred over the weekend. I extend sincere condolences to the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives,” he wrote. Pierre confirmed that his administration has already held urgent talks with the leadership of the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force, and assured the public that authorities are working tirelessly to track down and prosecute the perpetrators. “These acts of violence are a matter of grave concern,” he stated. “The safety and security of our citizens remain a top priority of my Government.”

As the annual festival season kicks off across Saint Lucia, a long-running debate over the dual use of the island’s limited sports infrastructure for entertainment events has reemerged, pitting two senior government ministers against each other on resource management and national priorities. The topic was raised by reporters during Monday’s pre-Cabinet press briefing, where Youth Development and Sports Minister Kenson Casimir and former sports ministry senior official Dr. Ernest Hilaire laid out starkly conflicting visions for how the country’s public venues should be utilized.

The core of the debate stems from a long-standing logistical challenge facing the small Caribbean island: limited available recreational and event space, a shortage that grows particularly acute during the annual Jazz and Carnival celebrations. To accommodate high demand for event venues, most of Saint Lucia’s existing sports grounds are regularly repurposed for concerts, parades, and other large entertainment gatherings. This constant multi-use has accelerated wear and tear on many facilities, most of which already were in need of major repair work before the added strain.

Casimir, who is serving his second term as the cabinet minister overseeing sports and youth affairs, doubled down on his long-held stance that all public sports venues should be reserved exclusively for athletic activities. He pointed to recent damage sustained at the Soufriere Mini Stadium, which was recently used for a non-sporting entertainment event, as evidence of the risks of multi-use policies. “This has been the conviction from my heart and mind… I don’t want anything but sports at a sports facility. That’s my position,” Casimir told reporters.

The minister noted that his stance has drawn widespread criticism online and in public discourse in past years, but he remains firm in his view that the island needs to do more to protect athletic infrastructure. “If at the end of the day we have those sports facilities being used in a very expedited fashion, get it back to usability for all the programmes that we have for sports. That’s my position. We have seen a lot of effort since I made my pronouncement and got slaughtered and dragged through social media and elsewhere. We’ve seen the concerted effort to do this more, but I believe, at the end of the day, we can do more.”

Referring to the damage at Soufriere Mini Stadium, Casimir added that while event organizers have pledged to complete repairs to bring the venue back to sporting standard, the incident underscores deeper systemic issues. “It’s still early days, so we’ll see how that works out. But I believe until we understand what sports is doing for this nation, we [will] continue to have these issues.”

Hilaire, who served as permanent secretary in the Ministry of Education and Sports during the planning and construction of the island’s iconic Daren Sammy Cricket Ground (DSCG), argues that a flexible multi-use model is not only practical but necessary for a small island nation with constrained public funding. Globally, multi-use sports venues that host everything from concerts to community gatherings are standard practice, and Hilaire says Saint Lucia can adopt the same model with intentional, proactive management.

“I believe as a small island state, we have limited facilities, that is the truth. And it comes down to a question of management. How do we manage the use?” Hilaire explained. “You want surfaces that you can use for multiple purposes, and it takes very little to restore them. And that’s just what we have to do.”

He even revealed that the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground was intentionally designed from its inception to host large entertainment events, noting the venue’s amphitheater-style northern stands, built specifically to provide optimal viewing for concert stages, with corporate boxes to accommodate premium guests. “We actually designed the DSCG for the purposes of concerts. The northern stands are shaped like an amphitheatre; two huge northern stands. We didn’t build a huge southern stand, we didn’t build a huge western stand. We built two northern stands with corporate boxes to the top. If you look at the shape of it, it was designed in an amphitheatre style, to allow us to have concerts there. So persons can rent boxes at the top, looking down at a stage.”

Hilaire emphasized that building separate, dedicated entertainment venues for every community across the island is financially unfeasible for Saint Lucia. “We do not have the resources for every community to have a cricket field, a football field, and an entertainment venue of that size that can host 6,000 people, like in Soufriere. As a country, we just cannot. When your venue is for the international level, you become a little more circumspect how you use it, especially if you have sporting events right after. You don’t want to destroy it, and you cannot host events. But you have to be a little open-minded, and you have to invest in a facility where it has versatility, so it allows you to have multiple events with minimal damage and disruption.”

Building purpose-built versatile infrastructure that can safely host multiple types of events, he argued, is the only practical solution to avoid forcing event-goers to travel long distances to a single central entertainment venue in the capital Castries. “What are you going to do? Spend $20 million on an entertainment venue in Castries, and when Dennery wants an event, everybody must go to Castries? In other words, you have to build a Dennery field in a way where it allows you to have mass crowd events there, and that’s my thinking on it. So I agree we need to be very respectful of athletes and sporting use, but we also have to understand we don’t have the resources to have dedicated facilities.”

As Saint Lucia’s entertainment and sports sectors continue to grow, driving increased demand for public event space across the island, the debate over how to balance competing needs for access to infrastructure remains unresolved.