DPP To Speak On ‘Vieux Fort Five’, Other Homicides

Saint Lucia’s Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Daarsrean Greene plans to hold a news conference next week to update the nation on several matters referred to his Office. According to a release from Greene’s Office, the June 19 press conference will include an update on the fatal police shooting of five men on May 5, 2011, in Vieux Fort. Kevin Ferdinand, Rosarius Marquis, John Baptiste MacFarlane, Mitchell Cadette, and Allen Louisy, dubbed ‘The Vieux Fort Five’, sustained fatal gunshot injuries when officers allegedly intercepted a robbery. Human Rights advocate and Attorney at Law Mary Francis, representing Allen Louisy’s mother, has consistently called for justice. In an interview with St. Lucia Times last month, Francis defended the DPP and his Office against accusations that they were responsible for delays after nine jurors deemed the police action unlawful at a June 2016 inquest. The National Centre for Legal Aid and Human Rights Executive Director said she had reliable information that the police hierarchy had ignored the DPP’s advice that there was a case to answer. The fatal police shooting of the ‘Vieux Fort Five’ was among a wave of killings that occurred between 2010 and 2011 as part of Operation Restore Confidence...