In Prison in St Lucia

[S/V_Surya]

For those interested here is a youtube video of Eric and his boat.
Protinus bateau exceptionnel - YouTube

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by tropicalescape

I belive in Texas you can kill a man if he is in your house with your tv in his hands at 3 am ,dosent matter if he has a knife or not,I think you can,but that would get you in hot water most anywhere else in America...I think these 3rd world places look at it like you have a right to be what ever you want to be (crook) and that no one has the right to kill you for it...true in America also!

Have you ever been outside USA?

Certainly not to the Caribbean or St Lucia.

People in St Lucia by GDP earn $12,600 each per year, the USA it's $48,000 per capita PA GDP. It may only be a third but its about the same as Chile or Hungary.
Now, a Thrid World country may not even earn $1,000 per year, many only half that.

So can you please stop thinking St Lucia is some impoverished Afghanistan!
GDP per capita (current US$) | Data | Table

[sailorboy1]

all the sea lawyers, chest thumpers, and "I'll kill you if you come on my boat" people on this thread do you listen/read yourselves?

sometimes, lots of times actually, I feel the biggest danger crime wise in cruising are the other cruisers

200+ posts about a subject that we don't even have any details about. I will admit that I was curious and Goggled it. But that gets you this thread, in other words the info isn't even out there to be "discussing"!

[storyinframes]

Reading at the self defence laws of St Lucia posted few posts above, it seems, the guy might get with a very lenient sentence provided there is no other complication or involvement (e.g. narcotics deal etc). That lenient sentencing comes somehow around the time when he has already finished the time in prison pending trial. I have seen it so often happen in India.
The thing is, no matter how right you are, in defending your property or loved ones, if there is a dead body, the authorities will lock you in and make you spend some time. They don't want any accused walking out scot free the next day. Maybe they do this as a deterrent to prevent further crimes or prevent people from killing others so easily or freely.

This is what I feel/think.

And if you are a foreigner in another country the authorities will throw all the rule books on your face. e.g. italian marine case in India

[rognvald]

Originally Posted by S/V_Surya

For those interested here is a youtube video of Eric and his boat.
Protinus bateau exceptionnel - YouTube

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. This certainly gives clarity to the subject matter. Good post!

[storyinframes]

Well, most of the places, you can't shoot a burglar. The same old logic of "reasonable/restraining force" comes in. However, there was one case in India where a burglar broke into a house in the middle of the night and the residents woke up - husband and wife. things got tricky. finally, the woman pulled the licensed revolver of her husband and shot the burglar. Burglar survived but badly maimed (dont remember the details). Police swung into action and by law they charged the woman for using unreasonable force with stringent prison term.

Good for her, the local journos/newspapers swung into action and they lobbied for her - in a country like mine where women often don't get justice, and over that the authorities have put a woman on trial just because she wanted to save her household/lives/etc. No ways. Everybody was getting a bad publicity. Finally, the court threw the case out, and not only did they discharged her honorably, she was even recommended for a bravery medal which she got some months later...

(I read this story in an Indian gun thread couple of years back.)

Moral of the story is YOU never pull the trigger tell your good lady to do it if situation so demands it. No court in the world would prosecute or miscarry justice on a woman who tried to defend herself from intruders whose intentions you are not sure about.

By the way I am bachelor and don't keep guns :-)

[tropicalescape]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

Have you ever been outside USA?

Certainly not to the Caribbean or St Lucia.

People in St Lucia by GDP earn $12,600 each per year, the USA it's $48,000 per capita PA GDP. It may only be a third but its about the same as Chile or Hungary.
Now, a Thrid World country may not even earn $1,000 per year, many only half that.

So can you please stop thinking St Lucia is some impoverished Afghanistan!
GDP per capita (current US$) | Data | Table

I dont like using the word "3rd world" and rarley do,maybe I meant "developing country" or "Imperial possestion" which ever, it aint "New York City"! Thanks for pointing it out none the less.. I have been thru most of the "Greater Antillias" and Jamaica and I fill that those areas are a good example for the type of Social,economic, and culture experiance one would have across the whole of the Caribbean(I could be wrong),indeed so much so that I focused my attention on broder areas of the globe and have since been around the world 4 times, twice east and twice west and, I have been as far south as El -Salvador in the Americas by getting in my old Ford pick-up truck and driving there,and I have driven my OFT as far north as PEI in the Canadian Maritimes,..but you are right ,I have never been to St.Lucia...I have seen pictures and I know my history pretty well so I would never have thought that the place was like Afganistan(never been there either) but thanks for trying to keep me on my toes and pointing it out..

[rognvald]

"Now, a Thrid World country may not even earn $1,000 per year, many only half that.

So can you please stop thinking St Lucia is some impoverished Afghanistan!" MarkJ


Mark, there might be a confusion regarding the term "Third World." It is not soley based on economics but also social and political developmental considerations. For example, a country like Brazil might have a thriving economy(which it does) but still retains the social and political deficiencies asssociated with the "Third World"--ie; high crime rates, mass corruption, tainted legal system, political patronage from the lowest to the highest levels, consistent voting irregularities, inequality of representation in government, gross inequality among workers wages based upon social class, etc. Economics is just one factor. But, one of the greatest elements of "Third World" status is the ability of a person to get a fair trial in a country's legal system whether a foreigner or a citizen. And this is the situation at hand. As a final remark, it is interesting to note the excellent video by S/V Surya showing the party in question. Although we all like to believe we are open minded, it is not difficult to understand why this "cruiser?" has been detained based upon his vessel and personal appearance. Perhaps justice is not always blind.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_World

[Lagoon4us]

Jeez that 3rd world description very closely matches USA?

[rognvald]

Originally Posted by Lagoon4us

Jeez that 3rd world description very closely matches USA?

Lagoon4us, We're not there yet, but we're certainly on the way. . . and our Founding Fathers are spinning in their graves.

[CarinaPDX]

Actually, that is a less than precise use of the term "3rd world": the term originated during the cold war, when the US, NATO, and other allies were the 1st world, the communist countries the 2nd world, and the non-aligned nations the 3rd world. (No prizes for figuring out who came up with the term that put the US 1st!)

Of course the term has come to imply other things, but it would be better to be explicit about those things than to use such a term so loosely.

[MarkJ]

Actually, and someone can correct me if I am wrong..... But the whole thing is a misnomer... The Forst World is the USA and its traditional ALLIES. The Second World is China and Russia and its traditional allies and the Third World is all the non-aligned countires....

Nothing to do with how rich a country is, just if you are a commo, or not, or don't care.

It's just coincidence that the non aligned are the poorest.

Anyway, the eastern Caribbean ain't too poor! Although it gets poorer as one heads south. Richest being BVIs, St Martins, st Bath then down the slope to Grenada and finally Trinidad...

[MarkJ]

Thanks, Carina, I didn't see your post till I'd posted... Really

[Lagoon4us]

Originally Posted by rognvald

Lagoon4us, We're not there yet, but we're certainly on the way. . . and our Founding Fathers are spinning in their graves.

Yes agree there, needs to get back to basics, sadly RESPECT is a scarce commodity worldwide.

Cheers

[CarinaPDX]

MarkJ: I'll take the support...

BTW, re: an earlier post of yours, I ALWAYS locked my companionway hatch at night, in the Caribbean and elsewhere. And it did, once, stop two boarders from getting below at 3am while I was sleeping. A locked metal grate is great solution (pun intended). And FWIW a padlock on a hasp is useless for securing a boat when absent - it takes a large screwdriver and a couple of seconds to get through.