ST. LUCIA recorded its 17th. murder for the year after a 31-year-old woman was stabbed to death reportedly by her boyfriend as she celebrated her birthday on Sunday.
Police said Sophia Edwards was killed at her home in Ciceron shortly after she had received a text message wishing her a happy birthday.
One eye-witness said that the woman and the father of her two children, got into an argument after she received the text message that ended with the words “I miss you”.
The eyewitness who said that he witnessed the killing, said he believed the man became enraged after the woman received the text message, saying it had been sent by her “other man”.
“When I heard the girl screaming, I just rush in the room and I just pull him off the girl but he had time stab up the girl already,” the eyewitness said.
In another weekend incident, Minister for Health and Wellness Senator Mary Isaac has strongly condemned the violent incident which occurred at the Accident and Emergency Department of the Victoria Hospital on Saturday night.
A statement from the Ministry of Health said the incident had members of staff and clients traumatized and running for cover while men armed with cutlasses actively pursued a patient brought in earlier with lacerations to his body.
The incident culminated near the security booth next to the Casualty Department where the patient was protected by an armed security officer.
Security personnel at the hospital were able to bring the matter under control and hand over the men involved to police who were summoned.
The statement said: “The government of St. Lucia and the Ministry of Health is strongly disturbed by the horrible incident perpetrated by criminal elements on the grounds of one of our hospitals during this week. We stand together with the people of St. Lucia to condemn all such acts of violence. This message is to inform everyone that acts of violence will not be tolerated at our health institutions and I am calling on those involved in the justice system to prosecute and swiftly expedite criminal charges against those criminals to the full extent of the law. We need the hands of justice in this case to act quickly so that the perpetrators can be dealt with and taught a valuable lesson.
“This has impacted our entire society and traumatized the staff and people of St. Lucia and it should not go unpunished. I call on the lawyers and others who will be involved in this case to put country before pocket before family and before friends in an effort to do away with the crime surge that we are experiencing.
“I pray that all those who suffered as a result of this act find comfort in the fact that justice will be executed expeditiously.”
The Minister who was out of the country at the time, called on the public to stand with the government to denounce such acts of violence on the island particularly in the institutions of care.
Imagine what the final to the hospital attack story would have been if no armed security guard on duty existed …
Nice St. Lucia, what will be the next horrific story?