Kim L. Ramsay - Murders That Shocked Barbados

MURDERS THAT SHOCKED BARBADOS

BY

Kim L Ramsay

2019 by Kim L Ramsay

First published 2019.

Al rights reserved.

The use of any part of this publication, reproduced, transmitted inany form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,recording, or otherwise, or stored in a retrieval system, withoutthe prior written consent of the publisher is an infringement of thecopyright law.

Ramsay, Kim L.

Murders That Shocked Barbados

ISBN 978-976-8265-84-5

Printed and bound by COT Holdings Limited Barbados, West

Indies

Table of Contents

A Word from the Author About the Book

D ear R eaders,

Let me begin with my own confession. Writing this book was one of the most difficult decisions I have ever made. I have wrestled with the decision on and off for almost a year on whether or not to write this book because of the nature of it. Writing Barbados Most Wanted, my first book, was much easier. That book was about 11 of Barbados

most notorious criminals who at some point terrorised Barbados and had the country in a state of fear while on the run, most of whom have gone to the great beyond in shoot outs with the police. While there should be no celebration about the demise of anyone, writing about them was easier.

Not this book. This book is about some of the islands most gruesome and horrific murders, some of which have never been solved. These cases involved suffering, grief, undetermined motives in some cases, heartache and loss of loved ones who were going about their business in their day to day activities, heading to or from work, church or play, relaxing at home, enjoying precious moments with loved ones, when they were brutal y taken from their loved ones.

These people did not deserve to die the way they did. They did not harm anyone. They were not notorious. They were not wanted. They were just innocent Barbadian citizens who, like me and you, had a legitimacy in being productive everyday people. They never had that chance to live their dreams.

One of my biggest chal enge was getting through to the families of these victims, many of whom did not want to discuss their loved one, understandably so. Each person who was taken so tragical y, left loved ones: a mother, father, brothers, sisters, partners, best friends who equal y suffered a loss; they too are victims. Worse, in some of these stories, the deceased was not alone at the time of their death. These co-victims were also hurt physical y and survived. They are just as

much a victim as the deceased, and my heart goes out to them. I can only imagine what life could have been surviving and having a continued existence after such a tragedy.

It is not my intention to rehash pain and terrible memories of the death of their loved ones. On the contrary, this book is a memory of al victims, whether mentioned in this book or not, who have passed due to violence. In many cases, perpetrators do not consider the pain that they have caused, not only to their victims, but to their own families and partners who are also negatively affected by their nefarious actions.

To the families and loved ones of the 32 victims in this book, I, along with Barbados and the wider community feel your pain. Loss of any kind is not easy. It can take months, years and in some cases a lifetime of pain, suffering and despair for the pain to subside. It is even harder when there has been no closure.

This book is dedicated to these victims and their loved ones. It tel s their story and hopeful y some lessons which can be learnt to help someone who is facing or has faced such tragedy in their lives. May their souls rest in peace.

Kim Ramsay

Foreword

Ideem it both a pleasure and a privilege to be asked to write the Foreword to such a wonderful book. In light of what has been occurring worldwide, and particularly in the United States, it is a very timely work. So when Kim mentioned to me that she was writing this book, I unhesitatingly agreed to write the foreword.

The Black Dahlia! The Brides in the Bath Case! The Zodiac Kil er!

These are names or rather monikers of brutal murders which occurred in the US and the UK. Approximately, for the past 15 to 20

years, we in Barbados could be forgiven for believing that such things did not exist in our island.

But this seminal work of Kim Ramsay tel s us otherwise. In fact, whether spoken of sotto voce or in whispered tones, this noted criminologist makes it clear that Barbados has had its fair share of shocking, gripping, riveting murders and, indeed, some unsolved ones as wel . I wil focus on only a few in this foreword, but I highly recommend the entire book.

One needs to be of a certain age to recal going off to church for the traditional 5:00 a.m. Christmas morning which always began with the lusty singing of the hymn Christians Awake, Salute the Happy Morn

and recal ing that on Christmas Day 1967, on returning home to hear the horrible report on Rediffusion that, while the Rector of St.

Matthews, Rev. Charles Gale, was busily recounting the Christmas homily, with glad tidings of great joy, his seven-months pregnant wife and their infant son were being brutal y murdered.

And Kim tel s it in a way that it is never too far from the mind on any early Christmas morning.

And if the US has its Black Dahlia, we have our own unsolved murder in the Pele Case. Kim tel s the story in a way which shows the disparate directions in which the evidence takes us, al with suspicion but no solution. It, of course, does not help that the one person who probably knows more about it than any other living person now lives overseas.

More recently, the Campus Trendz kil ings of six innocent women by Molotov cocktails gripped the island as wel as those in the diaspora.

In fact, I was in New York at the time it happened.

For me, the value of this book is two-fold. In the case of each murder, Kim dissects the facts like a lawyer and puts them into perspective. Yet she avoids making the rendition dry and unexciting as we lawyers can do to even a lively story. It is this historical narrative, this weaving together of facts which, at first, appear unrelated, which make this book hard to put down once you have started reading it. And she leaves us with many conundrums. So, while in Brazil, the name

Pele wil always evoke mastery, the name Pele in Barbados wil always evoke mystery and murder and, perhaps more painful y for the family of Victor Parris, the failure of our criminal justice system to solve a murder that cries out to be solved.

I suspect that many an hour wil find me re-reading chapters and deriving an entirely different take on the facts. If nothing else, the enduring quality of this book for which I congratulate Kim wil be this

that even after you have been able to put it down, you wil go back to it.

One final observation. In the book, Kim has spent much time on the plight of the victims, including both survivors and family members. In her concluding remarks, she speaks to the need for the victims rights and their voices to be considered, even if the ultimate result is not changed. I could not agree more. In my judgment, victims, no less than judges, jurors, prosecutors and defence counsel are part of the process, and must be treated as such. In the Practice Direction on Maximum Sentence Indications which are a form of guilty plea practice where the judge gives an indication of the likely sentence which the guilty pleader is likely to attract, provision is made for Victim Impact Statements to be considered. And in my view, it is important for virtual complainants, victims and their families to be notified by the court of such crucial events as sentencing and decisions on appeal. We have not done a great job of this I must say