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FRIDAY,
SEPTEMBER 05, 2014
VOLUME 108, No.36
www.thevincentian.com
A NIGHT OF HORROR Two dead, three injured in Glen shooting spree
Grafton Richards is said to have been murdered innocently. Stories by KENVILLE HORNE
Ricardo Haynes, one of two men shot and killed in Glen on Sunday night.
Male Attendant at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital (MCMH), TEARS OF SORROW and Grafton Richards, both calls for justice from the community of summarized the Glen, while Michael atmosphere at Richards Richards, Kevorn shop in Glen, in the Roberts and Charles aftermath of a horrific Baptiste sustained Sunday night. gunshot injuries and Just before 10pm on Sunday 31st August, two were hospitalized. According to an eyepersons were shot dead and three injured, as the witness account, two men, travelling on foot, homicide rate in SVG dressed in red outfits, continues to climb with red jersey material drastically. Dead are 21year-old labourer Ricardo Haynes and 56-year-old Right: This area at Godwin Richards’s house shows where five bullets struck.
covering their face, approached the shop where some persons were playing dominoes. One of them approached a young man who was hanging out at the shop, and dealt him numerous slaps. It was at this point that Grafton Richards, who operates the shop, decided to intervene. According to the eyewitness, Richards told the attacker that he is in control of the shop, and enquired what was happening. The attacker then opened fire on Richards, hitting him several times. Richards ran into his brother’s house, adjoining the shop, but he was pursued and shot dead in the living room. The other gunman is said to have opened fire on other persons at the shop. Haynes was cornered and killed in the bedroom of the house, and while some persons managed to escape, three other young men sustained injuries,
including the young man who was first assailed, and Grafton’s son Michael Richards, who was still recovering from a serious vehicular accident that occurred in the Caribbean Island of St. Maarten, and who is reported to have tried to save his father’s life. The numerous bullet holes on Richards’s house, and the copious blood stains on the ground and surrounding walls of the compound, tell the horrific story. Godwin Richards, brother of the deceased, is very upset that the place he owns has been targeted for such a brutal crime, and he is even more saddened that he has lost his beloved brother. And the man who has remained sober for 20 years, consumed alcohol in rapid succession to fight his depression. Continued on Page 3.
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“Innocent people are being shot; stop it,” daughter tells father’s killer THE DAUGHTER OF GRAFTON RICHARDS, who was murdered along with Ricardo Haynes, while playing dominoes at his shop in Glen, is appealing to her father’s killer to stop the killing because innocent persons are dying. According to Ruthlyn Abbott, she hopes that the person who took her father’s life, after hearing about his good character, “would realize that it is not simple for others to take these things so easy; and while committing these crimes, innocent people are being shot, and they need to stop it”. She said her father was a loving person who didn’t deserve to die in such a cruel manner. Richards was shot five times, after he attempted to stop a dispute that was taking place at his shop. In an interview with THE VINCENTIAN, Abbott opened up on how she learned of the father’s unfortunate death. She said she came from town, and as is the norm, during the start of each school term, she would visit her father to let him know how she is doing, and for him to spend some time with his granddaughter. She however decided not to hang around, since she was not feeling well. Abbot informed her father that she wanted to go to the hospital, “so he told me I’m a big girl, I can find the doctor myself.” However, just before she left, her father told her that if she wasn’t feeling well, “to go home, get dressed and come back” , and he would take her to the hospital, since he had to work at 12 midnight. Richards was a male attendant at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital (MCMH) at the time of his death. Abbott told her father ok, before setting out home with the intention of getting ready to journey to the hospital with her father. She said that when she got home, she turned on her television, and lay down to get some much needed rest. “But I fell asleep,” she admitted . Between sleeping and waking, she said she heard three calls, from a voice that sounded like her mother. Thinking it was a dream, she opted not to answer. On the fourth call Abbott sat up on her bed and began listening. Continued on Page 3. L-R: Ruthlyn Abbott, daughter of the deceased, Grafton Richards, had to be contained by her mother Juliana Bailey.