FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2023
VOLUME 117, No.47
Health Clinic for Sharpes Page 3
www.thevincentian.com
The Nigerian issue Page 8
Celebrating Soufrière Page 16
EC$1.50
President chides teachers Page 17
NDP and the youth Page 28
MURDER COUNT NOW AT 49 pronounced him dead upon arrival”. THREE MEN from the Central The atmosphere in Layou was Leeward community of Layou have quite tense when THE been shot and killed in just over a VINCENTIAN visited on Sunday month, igniting fear among and according to one resident who residents there. spoke with THE VINCENTIAN The latest killing took place on condition of anonymity, last Saturday, November 18, Gaymes’ death might have be in when Leon ‘Zacchaeus’ Gaymes of retaliation for the shooting death Texier Road, Layou, was shot and of Tambu Patrick, who was killed. gunned down on Sunday, Reports are that around November 5. 8:00pm, Gaymes was shot at least “The police did lock up Leon six times, and died on his way to but then release him,” said the the Milton Cato Memorial resident. Hospital (MCMH). Patrick’s death followed that of According to a police report, Delarno ‘Smokes’ Patrick, a 33“Mr. Gaymes allegedly suffered year-old construction worker at multiple gunshot wounds from an the Sandals Resorts in Buccamen. unknown masked assailant(s). He He was shot and killed at around was sent to the Milton Cato 1:00am on Sunday, October 15, in Memorial Hospital, where doctors Middle Street, Layou. “I don’t know if all the shootings are related but Leon Gaynes was the third something need to be done to stop persons to be shot in Layou in this craziness. When ‘Smokes’ get just over a month. Stories by KENVILLE HORNE
Oneil Delicia, homicide #49, succumbed to stab wounds. killed people suspected that it was connected to an outside incident that took place in Buccument. But now the last killings in November down yah (in Layou) have people really concern,” said another Layou resident on Sunday. The shooting death of Leon Gaymes brought the homicide count to 48 for 2023, surpassing last year’s record by six. Continued on Page 3.
POPULAR CONDUCTOR DIES AFTER FALL conductor died at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital on Wednesday 22nd, succumbing to injuries received when he fell from the top of a building at the Eastern Caribbean Group Companies’ facility in Campden Park, on Tuesday. Passengers travelling the Campden Park/Kingstown route knew that whenever they heard or saw a minibus approaching Corwin ‘Buss-a-shot’ with horn blaring and a Franklyn was a celebrated figure in his voice bellowing, “Boodow, down a town or native Campden Park. Bomb a drop,” that A POPULAR CAMPDEN conductor Corwin ‘Bussa-shot’ Franklyn was PARK minivan
manning the door. Franklyn was one of the most recognized, entertaining and celebrated figures in the so-called “van culture”. The terms and phrases he coined became subjects of interest for many young people and adults alike. A close friend of the deceased said Franklyn had decided recently to change his life; that he was leaving the conductor profession. According to the friend, he went looking for a job and found one with Sea Operations SVG Ltd., a Construction & Civil
Works Firm, headquartered at the Campden Park Industrial Estate. Shane Williams, a minibus operator in Campden Park, had developed a relationship with Franklyn that saw them working together for over 5 years. He described his conductor as a selfless person who placed everyone’s concern and issues before his. “He had a talk that he used to say, that he would give you his heart and work off a battery. That was the kind of person Corwin ‘Buss-a-shot’ Franklyn attentively Continued on Page 3. addressed his new task with an engineering firm.