Two teenagers were nursing injuries at the OKEU Hospital Wednesday after separate chopping incidents in Castries.
According to reports, at about 3:45 pm, a thirteen-year-old student came under attack by a group of young males on Manoel Street.
The attackers had knives and machetes.
Minutes later, a nineteen-year-old Sir Arthur Lewis Community College (SALCC) student also came under attack by a group of young males with knives and machetes.
It was not immediately apparent whether the same attackers were involved.
The Principal of the Ave Maria Girls’ Primary School, Valerie St. Helene-Henry, was in her schoolyard when the incident involving the SALCC student unfolded.
“A group of young males, about eight or more, were running after either one or two others, I am not sure how many they were chasing,” St. Helene-Henry recalled.
She said the pursuers had knives and machetes in plain view of the public, including other students in the capital.
“It was really scary,” she told St. Lucia Times.
The Ave Maria Girls’ Primary School Principal said she shouted to her school watchman to close the gate.
“By that time, other persons were running up; school children around the place were running towards Riverside Road,” she stated.
St. Helene-Henry told St. Lucia Times that she later learned that the chopping victim had run into the R.C Boys’ schoolyard on Brazil Street, shouting for help as he bled from his wounds.
“I didn’t see people running away. I saw people running to see what was happening, and when I say people, I mean other schoolchildren running to see the result. The adults were screaming in disbelief,” she said.
St. Helene-Henry said among the adults were parents waiting for students.
She explained that other people were shocked to see several sharp weapons in the hands of young men in broad daylight.
“We have gotten in touch with Ministry officials and we will be getting some form of audience to look at how our schools continue to be safe zones,” St. Helene-Henry told St. Lucia Times.
She is also President of the National Principals Association (NPA).
Police are investigating the chopping incidents in Castries, the latest in a flare-up in violence involving students, believed linked to the Sixx and Seven gang culture imported from Trinidad and Tobago.
(Story updated to correct the impression that Valerie St. Helene-Henry was an eyewitness to the actual chopping)
O my god is this really happening in st Lucia what the hell is going on back in the days we had real bad boys but nothing like this lord god almighty we need your help instead things get better it’s getting worse who do we run to for help only god it seems can fixed st Lucia to the way it was back in the days some of our kids really failing us I am praying for sweet stuff Lucia 🙏🇱🇨
Bring back the system where buses were subsidized a long time ago.
Buses would pick up students from school and drop them off by the nearest Gap or next to their homes. They were not allowed to board just any bus but what was assigned.
Bring this back.
Any student assigned to bus and not following rules, bring parents in together with student.
Councel, talk, parents do your part.
No one is laughing now. This is what happens when you dismantle everything to put your people in. No city police, no afterschool program, no ideas. No nothing. Just talk and more talk. We got what we asked for. Chaos and more chaos.
Poverty is the root cause of all the crime. The parents are very poor with lack of education and skills , single mothers who can’t take care of their sons . The system is responsible….
A lawless society breeds a lawless generation, politrixters polarizing the people, screens programing people to be more violent and angry, injust abounds, accountability none existent while lawmen surcumbvent the laws. Only the Most High can put an end to this evil that is taking over.
When indiscipline occurs right in the house of parliament, leaders don’t obey rules, don’t follow instructions, what will one expects the young people will do? The answer is “follow our leaders”.
So our people are following our leaders.
@fire and brimstone you are correct……..nothing more needs to be said.
Very sad but true situation we are currently facing..
Folks!.. Those kids to parents are underpaid and overworked people, how do we expect the children of poor parents to act? The politians children are attending schools in a private sector and their followers children are causing Mayhem on our streets in SLU.. We must address the poverty wages system (YESTERDAY) and if we don’t expect more Mayhem..
All workers on the island should take a week off work to demand better wages and solve this problem..
The Red and Yellow politicians must reflect get their facts straight and solve this oozing toothpaste syndrome..
What does “POVERTY” have to do in students being chopped in the streets of Castries?
This is so sad. Our young people are resorting to violence to solve their problems. This smells like gang activity or bullying. There is need for solution to this uncivilized behavior. We can’t allow our young people to go down this precipice of destruction. Our leaders should invest more in our schools, social programs, technical skill development opportunities etc to give the youth a sense of purpose, build self reliance, resilience and hope. Parents, churches, politicians, businessmen etc let’s work together to enrich the lives of our young people.
When you have KKRR on social media endorsing CRIME TO FAVOR THE UNITED WRECKERS OF THE POOR BECAUSE OF A FEW DOLLARS , WHAT DO YOU EXPECT
Everyone in the private sector should go on strike for better wages, but in st lucia the majority of the working class and the poor accept mediocrity from politicians and the system how can you have people leaving their homes to go and work for wages as low as 3 EC dollars an hour. This is a crime against humanity, and modern day slavery…
Wow.. @Lucian Nice asked the very question I was about to ask. Glad to see someone was thinking it.
Poverty has nothing to do with it. Many people grew up poor and they’re not criminals. Give these same youngsters money and they gonna buy guns, not property…..weapons!
Poverty is the root of the problem . How can a single mother provide for her young boys with wages as low as 3 EC dollars an hour . It is the system and the two political parties that are responsible for the predicarment that we are in today …
Poverty? Grew up in the 50’s, period of abject Poverty. We were practically Crime Free. Problem now…lack of proper upbringing, no discipline. Police must have unrestrained liberty for stop and search; if we are serious.
Dear Concern
Before there was No Wages for man neither beast and those who have been born before us, though was poor but never lacks nothing ❗
Poverty is not the problem. Guns are expensive. Very expensive yet they seem readily available to the so-called poor. perhaps we should take a closer look at parenting, the effects of the absence of critical thinking by young and old; poor quality leadership at all levels and the shrinking employment opportunities for our citizens.
Poverty is no excuse for crime…the folk who live in the poorest countries in the world are not criminals. ….some Lucians love to make excuses for bad behavior.