Homicide count moves to 52 after bloody weekend in SVG

Layou, Belmont and Edinboro were in the news over the weekend as those communities recorded shootings that took the homicide count in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) to 52 for 2023.

The first community to hear explosions that resulted in gunshot wounds was Edinboro where Olando Guy, 36, and Dee-jay Howard, 29, were shot on Saturday morning.

Guy and Howard were taken to the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital (MCMH) where Guy died during surgery. Howard is still warded there.

Later on Saturday morning, around 10.45, Joveka Gaymes, 27, of Layou was shot in an area of his community known as “Cashville”. He is a patient at the MCMH.

On Saturday November 18, Leon “Zacchaeus” Gaymes of Texier Road, Joveka’s  brother, was killed. Both men were detained days before November 18, and released by police in relation to the murder of Tambu Patrick, the Layou resident shot and killed on Sunday, November 5, 2023.

On Sunday morning, Belmont resident Demron Delpesche was shot, and died on the spot in the community he called home.  When police responded to the reports of gunfire they met Delpesche dead in the road.

This year is the bloodiest ever in the history of  SVG as the 52 people killed are the most to have died violently in one year. The previous number was 42 in 2022.

Most of the local homicides are said to be tied to each other as locals continue to war over a years’ long dispute that seemingly began over missing cocaine.