ONE of the three men who was arrested during a highly-publicized drug bust at Sandy Beach, Vieux Fort last Thursday is now a free man.
Dexter Vitalis, originally from Dennery, but now residing in Vieux Fort had his case dismissed on Wednesday during a court hearing in Vieux Fort. He was represented by Attorney at law, Marius Wilson.
A press release from the Royal St. Lucia Police Force stated that during the operation which comprised maritime, aerial and land assets four bales and five bags of compressed cannabis weighing 97.3 kilos (214 lbs) were discovered and seized after they were jettisoned from a vessel. The releasae added that another 1.4 kilos (3lbs) was discovered on the person of one of the suspects.
But Vitalis claims to know nothing about drugs. Recounting the incident during which he was shot in his leg by police, Vitalis also claims to have been brutalized by the police āfor no reasonā.
Giving his own version of the incident, he said he and his two other male companions had just come from their usual boat ride when police pounced on them. Police fired several gunshots at them, causing them to dash for cover.
āWhen I heard the gunshots I lay flat in the grass on the beach. I was afraidā¦While I was on the ground the police kicked me in my stomach and my ribs,ā he claimed.
Vitalis added that while gunshots were being fired, the two other men fled the scene, but he decided not to run because he might have been shot dead.
According to him, during that time a helicopter was hovering over the sea, with bright lights.
He said three police officers approached him and asked him: āWhere are the drugsā¦.Where is the marijuana?ā.
āI told them I have no drugs and that they could search the boatā¦ā Vitalis related.
He claimed the officers searched the boat but found nothing.
According to Vitalis, while this was going on he did not observe any boat belonging to the marine unit of the police force at sea.
Vitalis said the incident was witnessed by people some distance away along the beach near Bruceville.
He said when he got shot he passed out and when recovered realised he was in an ambulance. Vitalis said he was transported to the St. Jude Hospital and later to Victoria Hospital.
According to him, he left Victoria Hospital with much pain and a medical bill.
āWhy should I pay the hospital for treating me when I was shot by a police?ā he asked.
In the meantime, the two other men, a Vincentian and a Saint Lucian are still in police custody.
Vitalis said he is hoping to get some sort of compensation from government for his injuries.
Attorney at Law, Marius Wilson declined to comment on the matter.
Officers attached to the drug squad could not be reached for comment on the matter.
Why, oh why should this be headline News. We want to hear what’s happening
in our nation, why are the young acting so negatively in Soufriere, and in other parts?
Firstly, why was this information released to the public in the first instance when it appears to be, base on the accused statements, that the instances surrounding this case are totally different, when comparing the government”s statements to that of one of the accused. This is a clear signal that the media needs to reflect its role on the information it feeds to the public. We said we need changes that would serve us better,?. Let us start ourselves by making better decisions and research in reporting the information being released to the public. We should not, nor am I accusing anyone of, but we need to start making changes by reporting news that validates proper research prior to release. It is no longer responsible, if we want to make changes, simply to publicize information that is handed down to a person sitting in front of an information desk, having no idea of the vadality or reliability of that information. Such practices if still in play should no longer be accepted.
The world is in a state of confusion because the professionals that the world once placed their trust into, delivered on their promises . That was yesterday. With time comes change. Change can be good or bad. It is still a change. In today’s world it seem that the world’s problems rest squarely on the shoulders of professionals. Somehow they seem to want to accept the salary that is associated with their position, but in many instances, based on decisions, are not willing to fulfill the total role of professional making decisions and truly lead by example. Somehow in this world the fiction exist that to be truly successful one also has to be a “bad boy”. A unisex term. Somehow that type of behavior is what makes one complete. So with many successful individuals, somehow they also have to draw this type of negative energy attention to themselves so as to be media publicize. Same can be said of the professionals. Many professionals pretend to be hyped and down to the latest trend, jarjans, tatoos and hand signals as a way of indicating how hyped they are. They can be thugs in the richest sections of society with having those hyped trends. But you never see them take that behavior to the underworld. We fake our lives to pretend that bulling, chanting, the misjudging others through comparison to ourselves, rather than them as an individual, are the very reasons for our problems. We need to truly ask ourselves this question. What have I done recently that help made the lives of others somehow better. That is true power. Everything else is secondary.