FRIDAY, MARCH 21, 2025
VOLUME 119, No.12
Canouan’s facelift Page 2
www.thevincentian.com
Strong rum thief jailed Page 4
Shift in ECCB scandal Page 7
EC$1.50
Poetry day feature Page 16&17
Registration woes Page 32
WHO’S FOOLING WHO?
Roderick Jones, Chester King’s local lawyer said he had received confirmation that his client was not wanted on a murder charge in his homeland- St. Lucia. by HAYDN HUGGINS ST. LUCIAN NATIONAL Chester King has never been arrested for any murder or wanted for any murder in St. Lucia, contrary to information from the Royal St. Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force (RSVGPF), and Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves. King, a 38-year-old florist of Denry, St. Lucia, was recently held in St. Vincent and the Grenadines on four immigration charges. He pleaded not guilty to the charges when he
appeared at the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court on February 12, and Prosecutor Shamrock Pierre objected to bail. Senior Magistrate Tammika McKenzie upheld the objection, and ordered that King be remanded until February 24 for bail review. However, when the matter was recalled on February 24, King could not be produced, and the Court heard that he was removed from the state, much to the amazement of Magistrate McKenzie as the Court had never made a removal order for King.
country (St. Lucia) in connection to several heinous murders. “A warrant for the King, issued by the High Court in St. Lucia was dispatched to the authorities in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. In an effort to facilitate the suspect’s appearance before the High Court in St. Lucia, Mr. King was repatriated back to St. Lucia”. The Prime Minister commenting on the issue on NBC’s Morning Cup programme on March 5, 2025, stated in part, “The police acted quickly because that person (King) was needed, was to be questioned in Police and PM on same page relation to two or three murders, The RSVGPF’s release, dated March and as I 7, 2025, stated, in part, that, “During understand, he has the time of his (King’s) detention, the been charged for RSVGPF received credible information one, at least one”. from the Royal St. Lucia Police Force that Mr. King was wanted in that Continued on Page 3.
Chester King’s removal from St. Vincent raises certain pertinent questions which remain unanswered.