PM will fight 'social ills' after murders in Nevis

Prime Minister Timothy Harris has pledged to win the fight against crime after a series of shootings shocked Nevis.

In a statement to WIC News, Harris offered his sympathy to the loved ones of those killed and said: “We also offer our assurance to them, and to all of you, that your government will neither throw in the towel nor throw up its hands in the face of these senseless killings. 

“We will instead throw our energies into addressing the social ills that these tragic murders are symptomatic of, and we ask all of you to partner with us in this mission today.”

The Prime Minister’s words come in the wake of a double homicide in Cotton Ground.

On Tuesday afternoon, Elvis Lawrence, 21, and Shariff Williams, 25, were gunned down by armed masked men.

This follows the murder of 28-year-old mother of two Morella Webbe last week, and a similar homicide at the end of March.

The earlier incidents also took place in Cotton Ground, and police are yet to arrest anyone in connection any of the deaths.

Earlier today Marcella Liburd, chairman of the opposition St Kitts-Nevis Labour Party and former health minister, called for the government to stop playing "the blame game".

But Harris has responded with a rallying cry to every member of the community to pull together and stop the bloodshed.

“Although disappointed, we are not disillusioned; our faith in the strong fabric of our society remains unshaken.  This is why I always say that the fight on crime is not one that my government intends to lose,” he said.

“However, in order to win this battle, each and every one of us must fight for each other – so that our society can regain a safe footing – rather than against one another.

“Doing the latter results in carnage on the streets while doing the former – fighting for each other – entails fostering collaborative community relations, where after-school and other recreational activities, community policing efforts, job training and placement, neighbourhood watch teams and social programs that provide rehabilitation for offenders, as well as the counselling, mentoring and monitoring of at-risk and marginalised youths will take centre stage.”

Hard work will be required by all sections of society, he warned, but he believes his approach will “captivate the attention of the people – predominantly young men – who use guns, knives and other weapons to resolve disputes and end up being held captive in return by the machismo code of the streets.”