In Prison in St Lucia

[boatsail]

Originally Posted by neilpride

Wonder if the incident happen in Rodney Bay area, be there dozen of times i never hear of any boarding with crew onboard, Gross islet is a Crack market full of drug dealers , we dont know what happen and we dont know the whole history , and as i say before there is no autopsy info anywhere , so we dont know the real cause of death, pure speculation.... but sounds to me a bad drug deal......who know?

drug deal is absolute speculation at this point based on what is in this thread

[boatsail]

Originally Posted by tropicalescape

I would rather be a fugitive than a prisoner in some of the back wood places I have been thru...

I would rather be an innocent fugitive than an wrongfully imprisoned innocent man spending my...my...my...life behind bars awaiting (for a time unknown) to be charged for a crime i did not commit.

[jackdale]

Originally Posted by boatsail

I would rather be an innocent fugitive than an wrongfully imprisoned innocent man spending my...my...my...life behind bars awaiting (for a time unknown) to be charged for a crime i did not commit.

Most of these countries have extradition treaties.

[boatsail]

Originally Posted by jackdale

Most of these countries have extradition treaties.

Not saying that they don't. As an earlier poster mentioned, I would have had him leave the boat in an alive manner and then left so that he could not come back to hurt me should he and his criminal friends wanted retaliation.


I don't know the facts, only what has been presnted. Knowing what i know, I would not have stuck around for a month after he left my boat to swim to shore. I would have been gone after the immediate threat was off swimming to the sandy beach.

Look, I like St. Lucia. I jut got married there mid december. It was great. I'm posting based on knowing only what has been posted and making comment on that. I'm not court or jury. I'm posting on how I would have reacted after the fact.

example.....I go backpacking. Somoene shows up to my off the beaten trail campsite. I catch them trying to come into my tent while I'm inside. I don't know their intention, they run and leave.
Do I...
pack up and leave
or
stay and finish my camping trip

me personally, I leave. I don't want them coming back with friends to mess with me. i don't want trouble. I just wanted to camp. Staying is in my eyes a risk. I'm out of there. If he dies while walking on the trial back to meet his friends, it is not my fault. I did nothing wrong.

I'm making the statement based on what is written, nothing more. Life is precious. If he is innocent and what is posted is true, it is a crime for him to be held and his life wasted. we only get one life. What is his recourse and how will he get his life back, should he spend 5 years in prison to be found not guilty? He cannot get back time. I would have left about 3-4 weeks prior to being arrested and would not have hung around in that anchorage after being a victim of the criminal who swam away from the boat

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by boatsail

Not saying that they don't. As an earlier poster mentioned, I would have had him leave the boat in an alive manner and then left so that he could not come back to hurt me should he and his criminal friends wanted retaliation.

I don't know the facts, only what has been presnted. Knowing what i know, I would not have stuck around for a month after he left my boat to swim to shore. I would have been gone after the immediate threat was off swimming to the sandy beach.

Look, I like St. Lucia. I jut got married there mid december. It was great. I'm posting based on knowing only what has been posted and making comment on that. I'm not court or jury. I'm posting on how I would have reacted after the fact.

example.....I go backpacking. Somoene shows up to my off the beaten trail campsite. I catch them trying to come into my tent while I'm inside. I don't know their intention, they run and leave.
Do I...
pack up and leave
or
stay and finish my camping trip

me personally, I leave. I don't want them coming back with friends to mess with me. i don't want trouble. I just wanted to camp. Staying is in my eyes a risk. I'm out of there. If he dies while walking on the trial back to meet his friends, it is not my fault. I did nothing wrong.

I'm making the statement based on what is written, nothing more. Life is precious. If he is innocent and what is posted is true, it is a crime for him to be held and his life wasted. we only get one life. What is his recourse and how will he get his life back, should he spend 5 years in prison to be found not guilty? He cannot get back time. I would have left about 3-4 weeks prior to being arrested and would not have hung around in that anchorage after being a victim of the criminal who swam away from the boat

Quite, but to take your backpacking analogy a little , further. He tries to enter your tent, you beat him off , he runs away , injures himself , makes a claim to the police that , you did it and then dies on the spot. You think that by packing up and just leaving your protecting yourself. I'm sure the bloodhounds would find you fast

Running like anything else needs to be thought through.

Dave

[Rocketman]

The facts are, we don't know enough yet to know if what he did or didn't do is right or wrong. Everything that we know up to this point, would sugest that this man did nothing worth spending time in jail for. He could have had a business relationship with the deceased that went bad, he could have known the deceased personally, maybe he didn't leave because he had a job, girl friend, commitments on the island. We really do not know.
With all this speculation, I think something could be done to help this guy out. If someone, anyone that is on the island or is going to be on the island would do a days worth of research an then contact the accused by simply going to see him, or talking with the lawyer, then maybe a few answers could be accertained. At least this guy could have some hope and know that someone out there care's a little about his story.

[boatsail]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Quite, but to take your backpacking analogy a little , further. He tries to enter your tent, you beat him off , he runs away , injures himself , makes a claim to the police that , you did it and then dies on the spot. You think that by packing up and just leaving your protecting yourself. I'm sure the bloodhounds would find you fast

Running like anything else needs to be thought through.

Dave

A month from incident until arrest

[category4jay]

Originally Posted by Don Lucas

But I just have to believe there is a lot more to the story that we don't know.

Agreed. Something to me just doesn't sound quite right. We need all the facts to come out on this. But the question de jour for me is is anyone actually in St Lucia right now trying to get to the bottom of this? Family, friends, the OP? Does he has legal representation through the French embassy or consulate? We as members of a forum not even living close to St. Lucia could speculate forever on this but unless someone is actually on the ground in St Licia DOING something the guy could be there for quite some time.

Also, and I apologize if this has been discussed, but whats happened to his boat and his possessions on the boat?

[yeloya]

I just wonder what would have happened if the guy had just taken the anchor and sailed away to Martinique or Guadaloupe (all french territories) or even to France supposing that he had enough food and water on board ?
I was in the Caribbean last year and I did not see any maritime ploice, fast boats, etc.. anywhere. So, I would assume noone would be able to run after you. I think he would have good enough excuse to leave St Lucia w/out checking out properly; being attacked on his boat (how to prove this, is another matter..)
Do you think some of the neighboring boaters would report the flag and the name of the boat to local police via VHF immediately?

While I was there, I thought always what to do if I face with this kind of situation. Thanks God, it didn't happen. But had it happened, the first option in the islands like St Lucia, St Vincent, etc.. for me would always be to run away, as far away as possible..

Cheers

Yeloya

[rognvald]

Although, on the surface, this a discussion about a cruiser being held in a St. Lucian jail, it is really about what we would do when confronted with a robbery or a life threatening situation while cruising. We all would like to believe that we would do the right thing whether it be self defense or nothing at all, but unless you have experienced this first hand and have a history of how you respond in these instances, you'll never really know what you're going to do. The flight or fight response is instinctive and no amount of ameliorating conversation or bravado online will ever come close to your real reaction. The problem is that once confronted, you can never change your response and if you fail to act honorably to save yourself or your loved ones you will be psycholgically scarred for life. A close friend of mine once lived in an affluent area that bordered a high crime area. She and her husband were remodeling their home and the back wall of the house was open and only covered with a blue tarp. Late that night, two men entered the house at knifepoint, tied up the husband and made him watch them rape his wife for over two hours. He never resisted. Shortly after the attack, they divorced as the man could not face his wife for the shame he felt for not fighting. They never caught the intruders. The point is that whether we are cruising or living on land, life will throw challenges to the very nature of who we are as people. Most will never face this dilemna, but if you do, knowledge of who you are will be critical to the rest of your life. Do you really know how you would respond? Most of us will never have a second chance like Joseph Conrad's character "Lord Jim."

[Outwest34au]

Hey guys, some of you are in the same time zone more or less, some of you prolly get OK phone rates there in the U.S.
Why don't one of you just cal St Lucia and speak with Mr Sommer? That will also answer the question "is he being held incommunicado".

The person that does this will have the right to saythey got the good oil straight from the horses mouth.

[endoftheroad]

I do not have a criminal record, nada.
But my whole life I have felt that it can be tough for a man to get through life without finding himself inside a jail cell at one point or another.
There is alot asked of us in these modern times, some of it is very unnatural.
We are not robots.

[Rocketman]

Originally Posted by rognvald

Although, on the surface, this a discussion about a cruiser being held in a St. Lucian jail, it is really about what we would do when confronted with a robbery or a life threatening situation while cruising. We all would like to believe that we would do the right thing whether it be self defense or nothing at all, but unless you have experienced this first hand and have a history of how you respond in these instances, you'll never really know what you're going to do. The flight or fight response is instinctive and no amount of ameliorating conversation or bravado online will ever come close to your real reaction. The problem is that once confronted, you can never change your response and if you fail to act honorably to save yourself or your loved ones you will be psycholgically scarred for life. A close friend of mine once lived in an affluent area that bordered a high crime area. She and her husband were remodeling their home and the back wall of the house was open and only covered with a blue tarp. Late that night, two men entered the house at knifepoint, tied up the husband and made him watch them rape his wife for over two hours. He never resisted. Shortly after the attack, they divorced as the man could not face his wife for the shame he felt for not fighting. They never caught the intruders. The point is that whether we are cruising or living on land, life will throw challenges to the very nature of who we are as people. Most will never face this dilemna, but if you do, knowledge of who you are will be critical to the rest of your life. Do you really know how you would respond? Most of us will never have a second chance like Joseph Conrad's character "Lord Jim."

One of the best post's I have read on this. Thanks.

[Eddiefuego]

I'll bet someone here knows where the US embassy is located for this region. If the email address were posted here, I'd shoot a note and ask the status of this dude. Same with the Law offices involved....email and/or phone numbers might/would/could get some attention to the subject and let those involved know that these things get attention. Worst case...this thread might gain some info.

[John A]

Originally Posted by Eddiefuego

I'll bet someone here knows where the US embassy is located for this region. If the email address were posted here, I'd shoot a note and ask the status of this dude. Same with the Law offices involved....email and/or phone numbers might/would/could get some attention to the subject and let those involved know that these things get attention. Worst case...this thread might gain some info.

Re-reading the OP I note that the person in question is, in all likelyhood, French. If this is so then the US Embassy will be of little use.

Directly to the north of St. Lucia is the French Island of Martinique, and two islands further north is the French island of Guadeloupe, which is a Department within France's Government in France and is the administrater for French possesions in the Caribbean. I'm sure that they are aware of the situation.

St. Lucia, as of 1979, is an independent member state of the British Commonwealth The islands legal system (I checked) is based on the Napoleonic Code. He is in a legal system where he is guilty until proven innocent.