Update on justice in St Lucia

[donradcliffe]

Since I can't post this on the old closed thread I'll try a new one and see how long it lasts. I had a chat this week with a St Lucia based friend, and he gave me the story as he heard it from the customs man who is in charge of watching the Frenchman's boat, and its a bit different than what has been posted.

The story goes that the Frenchman had taken one of the local hookers out to his boat for an evening of recreation, and the local who showed up was her pimp. There was an altercation of sorts, and the local was found floating dead in the water the next morning. The Frenchman admitted the altercation and also told the police that he was glad the local was dead. After a year in jail, he had a hearing and he is now scheduled for trial in 4 YEARS.

The customs man's take was that 4 years from now he will be told to leave and never return--my take is that if he was thinking with the right head he would have sailed the 21 miles to Martinique that night.

[tropicalescape]

Originally Posted by donradcliffe

Since I can't post this on the old closed thread I'll try a new one and see how long it lasts. I had a chat this week with a St Lucia based friend, and he gave me the story as he heard it from the customs man who is in charge of watching the Frenchman's boat, and its a bit different than what has been posted.

The story goes that the Frenchman had taken one of the local hookers out to his boat for an evening of recreation, and the local who showed up was her pimp. There was an altercation of sorts, and the local was found floating dead in the water the next morning. The Frenchman admitted the altercation and also told the police that he was glad the local was dead. After a year in jail, he had a hearing and he is now scheduled for trial in 4 YEARS.

The customs man's take was that 4 years from now he will be told to leave and never return--my take is that if he was thinking with the right head he would have sailed the 21 miles to Martinique that night.

Wow...

[David_Old_Jersey]

If true, that does kinda help explain why he got charged.

But at least he is scheduled for a trial - not all jurisdictions bother with that nicety...........

[rognvald]

The danger of being arrested outside the US, Canada, Europe, Australia and NZ is that you are at the mercy of the local officials. The "Right to a Speedy Trial" as guaranteed in our US Constitution, and others, may or may not exist. This complicates the crime issue for travelers in these countries and even the innocent or wrongly accused could find themselves involved in a nightmare scenario. Having spent a year in prison with a four year wait before trial violates all principles of a fair and just law. These are issues some on this forum either ignore or don't believe are true but once you are outside the realm of European Common Law--anything goes.

[sailorboy1]

I don't find the "new" details change the story of what happened much. To me it just provides info for what happened before hand.

[Pete7]

Folks, lets keep this thread tight and on topic about St Lucia. By all means discuss world justice, but just not on Cruiser Forums.

Ta

Pete

[John A]

Before St. Lucia became an independent country in the early 1960's it was British, before that it was French.