Police are investigating a stabbing on Dauphin Street, Gros Islet, on Friday night that led to the hospitalisation of a Canadian tourist.
According to reports, some young men attacked the male visitor at about 11:15 pm.
The President of the Gros Islet Vendors Association Nehemiah Charles said the report he received indicated that five young men accosted the visitor and attempted to rob him.
“There was a struggle and he got stabbed while that was going on, but they still took his wallet and ID,” Charles told St Lucia Times.
According to the Gros Islet Vendors Association official, the visitor was a guest at a hotel in the North.
“Fortunately, I don’t know if that lady was with him or a passerby, but there was another tourist who is a nurse. She put pressure on the wound, a local called the ambulance and it came and took the guy to the hospital,” Charles recalled.
The Saint Lucia Fire Service (SLFS) said the man was in stable condition then.
The President of the Gros Islet Vendors Association expressed concern about the incident, declaring that it does not bode well for the vital tourism industry.
“I am also a taxi driver, so the first thing visitors tell me is about what’s happening in Vieux Fort and then they talk about tourists. So it doesn’t look good for our industry. If it continues, if it does not stop it will not be good for Saint Lucia,” he observed.
May God help us help ourselves, we are to laid back as a nation.
These Fools Should have Been arrested and Charge the Night of that Incident .A few St.Lucians love to Cover up incidents involving Criminal Activity.St.Lucia Main Industry is Tourism .What Message are these Fools.Sending out to the Outside that St.Lucia is not Safe.When police Deal with them in the Rightful way persons involved in Human Rights Complains
No it’s not good for st Lucia at the same
Token our leader have no reason to make comparisons with crime taking place in other countries that’s not a good thing also calling out for
Help to combat crime in St Lucia also is not good
Asking for help to fight crime mean the pm can’t do the job he is elected to do he can’t lead
If you for a minute think the rot we’re seeing in the south cannot spread to other parts of the island, you are sorely mistaken. I’ve seen so many memes disparaging VF that is’t revolting. Look out other communities, this is the pandemic we should be concerned about. Our tourism industry has never been under this much of a threat. The only lifeline we have. If you think crime is bad now, if that goes we’re finished as a nation.
See how fast they solve that particular criminal act.
Oh my and not a word of condemnation from the MP for Gros Islet or Minister of Tourism or SLHTA. We will live to regret our silence on these crimes perpetuated on our vital breadwinning industry.
Violent crime is all over the island. This has to stop or our beautiful country will end up being a ghost town NO TOURISTS NO LOCALS it will be run by the gangs and the young people who have no pride. We as locals will not want to venture away from our homes and tourists will stop coming THEN WHAT?
I guess my comment bordered on some form of malice or indecency
This is extremely sad. However, I have a serious difficulty with the whole thrust of the comments. First and foremost, we (myself included) appreciate every person who leaves their country and spends hard-earned cash to visit ours. It is currently the economic lifeblood of our country. Does this mean however, that a foreigner being injured matters more than a Saint Lucian being injured? Don’t get me wrong, I am not trying to downplay the risks to the industry.
Two weeks ago a young man arriving home from late night hotel work was shot just as he exited his vehicle. Luckily, he was not killed. Am I to understand that his injuries matter less because he is a local? I totally reject that line of reasoning. In my not-so-humble opinion, EVERY INSTANCE AND INCIDENCE OF VIOLENCE IS TOO MUCH. A Saint Lucian injured or losing his/her life is just as terrible to me as the same thing happening to a Canadian or a national from any other country.
As a people let us rise and condemn every act of violence, regardless of whether the victim is from Castries or Canada, Vieux Fort or Vietnam, Babonneau or Barbados, Laguerre or Lagos. Our visitors matter, tourism matters, BUT WE SAINT LUCIANS MATTER TOO!!
@modestuslouis… I get what you’re saying but it doesn’t change the fact that if tourist are being attacked that the whole populace will suffer 20 times more than if locals are being targeted. It’s just a fact that if the tourism industry crashes we all would suffer whether it is directly or indirectly, and then you will truly see crime.
Also I think the sentiment that everyone is sharing/feeling is that we all along thought that most of the crime was between rival gangs and their associates. This dispels that theory but also it shows that if you allow crime to fester it will eventually reach your front door. Most of us have been apathetic about criminality because it seemed so distant and that in itself was a mistake.
This is a complicated situation but it needs to be tackled otherwise we will be heading for a very dark place. I don’t have confidence in the current administration but I hope they can find the resolve with time. I get the impression that they were hoping this would just go away but clearly it hasn’t.
The youtes will never graduate from secondary school and go and work for 2 to 5 EC dollars , low wages that will take them nowhere in life what future can the thousands of private sector working poor can achieve working for such inhumane wages. The government has been in power for almost 2 years and they are still in the infantry stages of enacting a minimum wage but sandals and bay gardens already have 3 properties with the help of corrupt politicians and big banks
They should be hanged in my strong opinion
Modestus Louis, I agree that EVERY innocent victim of crime is important. However, the deleterious effect that crimes against tourists would have on the industry and subsequently the economy would not be the same if the criminality was confined to only locals. I came to St. Lucia to celebrate my 50th birthday ten years ago. I loved it. Where I come from criminality is rampant. Ironically though the first time I had ever witnessed a crime was on the second day of my stay in St. Lucia. There was a fight between two young men and one stabbed the other and he started to bleed. Needless to say I was in shock. Over the years I have witnessed a gradual increase in gun related violence that have now risen to a crescendo. I still hope to visit St Lucia again in the not too distant future because I refuse to live my life in fear whilst the criminals are walking around free of fear.
Fast more knee I beg to differ cause 99.9% of our youth committing these crimes or being involved in crime and gang activities don’t want to work for $50.00 an hour legitimately. I see some of these young thug’s from Vieux Fort at the pond cleaning fish $5.00 each and can clean as many as 10 in an hour. These are the same ones who can make $400 to $500 in a day plying this job, but yet they leave that and sit in the ghetto with the boss for a roti at lunch time. That’s just one example, go out there and you will understand that these young people just develop a culture of laziness and making a quick buck by any means necessary.
Modestus you’re talking a pile of crap. When young criminals, armed with a knife or a gun, backed up with fellow criminals appear at the place known to be the place where visitors come to sample local dishes or buy local Arts & Crafts, attack the visitor, rob him and attempt to kill but injure him, then you try to equate the matter with what the vieux negs are doing to other Lucians? a brother of mine was once beaten up very badly in London, U.K. my second son was attacked, ended up in Hospital with brain damage; one night walking to my Hotel at Rodney Bay, a car with two guys coming the opposite, a quick look showed one with a hand gun, I tried to walk fast, he then reversed but that old athletic legs of mine saved my life; bastards who find it easier to steal than to work must not be excused. Your highly praise Tourism is on life support – it will die, why? because they don’t hang killers any more. CREATE WORK, COMPLETE THE MODERN HOSPITAL IN V/FORT
It baffles me every Friday that there is basically ZERO police presence on the streets of Gros Islet. After so long we still don’t have a clear strategy on safety for all in this Friday Night street jam. So the solution according to my great leader is to bring in RSS. Soon in April he and Kenny will be boasted about how much positive they have done over the financial year. He may even boast how He was able to calm gun violence in Vfort. Just wait and see. Am also so amazed that the ppl that tell us they love Lucia and have orgaisned protest for almost nothing have NOTHING to say or do about our Crime Situation.
There was a time police use to kill , kill them,it could my own family s lot of the young people don’t want to work , sitting depending on their mother and father to feed them,and giving you talks in your own house,that is why a lot of them dieing young, disrespectful no manners no respect for their parents, when you talking to them for their own good,I am tired of that shoting and killing in st.lucia and when you get them with any gun no bail put them in bordeil like rats.
you see how fast the ambulance came when they heard it was a white man that got stabbed. But the two guys that got shot in banan was preety much at the door of the hosptial no ambulance came on time to help them
@ The cunning Fox Modestus is correct in his assessments there is more emphasis placed on the lives of tourist compared to locals a life is a life. For those in the diapora in those big cities abroad with their daily mass shootings and thousands of gangs what happened to tourists here is pale in comparison and your leaders with all their resources and legislation can’t seem to curtail crime either. There are no Mayberrys in the Caribbean anymore so when you go anywhere be mindful (as you should) of your surroundings. Criminality here is a reflection and imitation of the synedel of the society of which you currently reside .
If Saint Lucians want to go around shooting, stabbing and maiming, killing or by other nefarious ways, so be it. However, allowing your bretheren do the same to tourists and especially Yanks and Kanucks, it’s time to get real. Such news is extremely bad news for business, and especially so as tourism is just about the only money spinner on your Island.
wow
Walk Gros Islet anytime any day you will see who they are. Mongrel kids are they! I was going to behead one of them
It’s time for the police to be more active during these times as this is part of the island’s tourism attractions. By now since we’re in 2023 one would expect more security measures to be taken given the rise in criminal activities. The planners and all stakeholders needs to come together to put something forward to reduce or prevent these things from happening.
We just visited Saint Lucia and had an incredible time, but we felt we were not welcome. People glaring at us and following us in certain areas, people giving us dirty looks, bullying us, and just being plain mean. We will likely not return here unless going directly to a resort – we didn’t feel safe walking around Soufriere or even Castries. It’s a real shame because we met some amazing people but we just didn’t feel safe the entire time.