Tragedy in Antigua; Captain Shot & Killed...

Yacht Captain shot in Antigua

According to a few internet sources a captain was killed in Antigua:

The link:
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2009/01/23/news/CB-Antigua-Yacht-Slaying.php

Australian skipper shot and killed in Antigua
The Associated Press
Published: January 23, 2009

ST. JOHN'S, Antigua: A gunman shot and killed the Australian skipper of a yacht in Antigua, police said Friday, stirring protests in the affluent boating community that has become a target of the Caribbean island's crime wave.

The victim was shot in the chest at close range Thursday night as he walked through a dockyard area near English Harbor with his girlfriend, Police Commissioner Thomas Bennett said. The motive was unclear and no arrests have been made, Bennett said.

A police official who could not be quoted by name because he was not authorized to speak to the news media identified the victim as Drew Gollan, captain of the 163-foot (50-meter) sailing yacht Perseus.

The shooting outraged boaters, business owners and local residents, who complained at an impromptu meeting Friday that the government has not done enough to protect the yacht-packed English Harbor area.

Louis Rich said that he planned to leave the island ahead of schedule on his yacht Alfa Nero. He said one of his own crew members had been robbed the previous week and he was concerned about their safety.
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Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer told the roughly 100 people gathered at the Abracadabra restaurant that police will increase patrols.

The twin-island nation of Antigua and Barbuda has been struggling with a rise in slayings, including the July shooting of British honeymooners Catherine and Benjamin Mullany in their cottage at a beachside resort.

"English Harbor draws a lot of these big yachts and money, and whoever is doing the crime is seeing the money," said Kristi Chesher, an American visitor who runs a Newport, R.I.-based boating concierge company. "The community is devastated really; not only the yachting community but the locals."

Gollan was among nine permanent crew members for the Perseus, which has a Steinway piano in the main saloon and is available for charters at $175,000 per week, according to a recent review by the online magazine CharterWave.

___

Associated Press writer Mike Melia contributed to this report from San Juan, Puerto Rico.

With very sad regret and a heavy heart, having grown-up and worked in English Harbour for more years than I care to remember, this is no shock.

The feeling within the yachting and resident community in the last few years has been tense with a part of society where hard drug gangs and pushers have moved in. This was predicted for quiet a while.

Its not just Antigua that will suffer, many Islands of the Caribbean make a lot of tourist dollars from yachting but they think of it as an endless cash-cow. Poor security, mindless violent crimes and greed could very easily be the death of these 'paradises'.

As I said, it is with a very heavy heart that I write this.

Fish

Yes Pascal, unfortunatly I've seen go on for the last 30 years.

Once in St Thomas as an 18 year old steward, I went ashore for some Egg McMuffins real early as a treat for the crew after a hard charter.

Just ahead of me while walking , passing the bar we had spent the previous night in, was a guy with a black case. From nowhere two punks jumped him and stole the case, luckily not using their hand guns as the street was busy. All this was before 7.30 in the morning.

This was when St. Thomas was 'nice'.

Throwing the Duchess of Westminster into the back of a pick-up at 4 in the morning in St Barts is another story.

Fish

No changes..:

I lived in St. Thomas back in the mid 80s as well as St. Croix and Puerto Rico.

Nice place St. Thomas, but be careful. Very careful..The natives are restless.

Yup, yup..but don't tell the tourists, they think they are in disneyland but with a nice sunset.

DK how I'd feel with a heart attack, but with a gunshot wound it's scoop and go. Any vehicle will do.
Alfa Nero did exactly the right thing. Only when it becomes more expensive to leave crime than to stop it will action be taken. Once they have the rep of a muggers (or worse) paradise money dries up.

From IBI News...

We still have hangings in Antigua, though no longer public.

Has not been used since the Guernsey boat 'Comupter Challenger' was shot up in the early '90s. I helped solve that one due to having some Guernsey pound notes on me to show the Police to trace

Congratulations to the Antiguan Police on the swift arrest of the suspect. May he get a fair trial and justice be served.

One needs to get a grip on crime early as eventually it gets out of control and then almost drastic measures need to be taken to preserve the peace. (Hanging before a cricket match may be too drastic but I am sure a lot of Ozzies felt that way at the loss of their team in ODI and test series to SA.)

Unfortunately crime happens all around the world and I believe that it is going to get worse as unemployment continues to rise in the face of the world economic crisis.

How would you feel if you and your children were starving or at least battling to make ends meet and then you see a luxury yacht in the marina and the people living an exuberent lifestyle?

Lets hope we get a grip on crime soon.

My condolences to the family of Capt. Drew Gollan of S/Y Perseus.

Woosh! That's the sound of tourist dollars drying up. Obviously Antigua recognized that sound with the aid of Crime Stoppers. Hopefully other places that haven't had the problem hear it as well and put measures in place to stop problems before they start.
A recent employer who enjoys world travel told me he has stopped going outside the US (and that's not to say it doesn't happen here, but it's home) because of safety concerns. That's not a good thing for anybody.

I'm very pleased to say I've seen more Englishmen, Aussies, Yarppies and Kiwis put to the sword there by the West Indian team than seems dignified; brutal even. Cricket Rocks, my cousin Lappie still reckons the best view of the Grounds was from the bars of his prison cell!

Now the Recreation Ground is no more, no more crowds singing and drumming to Gravey's chants, We now have an err....Super Stadium with no life or character. Yet another nail in the coffin.

I'm starting to sound like an old F*rt.

Sorry

Fish

Are you at YHG in St. Thomas?

mugger? how do you know it was a robbery?

did u know that they found drugs and a large sum of money tied in rubberband on the late capt.? which also prompt the officers to search his vessel? maybe you need to consider that.

i think the customs need to start checking these yachts, whenever they come into port; because, we cannot continue to allow these things to happen.