NCL Pearl - cruisers robbed, tour guide injured on St Lucia

**Ally** · 01-25-2008, 07:31 AM

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His words came on the heels of yet another robbery in Soufriere, this time the government’s full machinery was activated for damage control. Official reports state that six cruise ship passengers, two Americans and four Canadians were on a forest trail above the Botanical Gardens when two masked men, one yielding a machËte and the other a gun, robbed them of their ID, jewelry, purses and wallets.

The two tour guides were robbed of their monies and one of them, Katia Polius, attempted to call for help on her cell phone. The bandits noticed and landed her with several kicks. When the masked men left, it is reported that the female guide reassuringly escorted the guests to their taxi . . . then fainted. Hours after the incident, Chastanet, Communications Minister Guy Joseph and John Broughton were meeting with the victims aboard the ship, Norwegian Pearl, and were at the bed-side of the injured tour guide.

"When I visited the young lady at the hospital last evening, I realized that some people have really lost it all, as far as the soul of this nation is concerned. To look at a fellow St Lucian, an individual who is seeking to make a decent living . . . it tells us that the criminals have no consideration for any life or property. I believe the people of the community should take the approach that they are not going to tolerate this any longer. This is a crime against the economy of the country and incidents of this nature can destroy all that we are working on. If a tourist had been injured or killed, we would have been in a different situation. The government of St Lucia applauds the efforts made by her to protect the tourist," commented Guy Joseph.

Harold Dalson, MP for Soufriere expressed deep concern to the STAR about the nature of things in his district. "Recently there has been a significant increase in robberies . . . especially around the Christmas season. I felt that this would have died down by now and I am appealing to the police to do everything possible to bring peace to Soufriere," said Dalson.

Joan Devaux, proprietor of the Botanical Gardens spoke to the STAR about what she considers a plague that affects Soufriere almost daily. "Ten days ago, we had three masked armed robbers at 20 minutes past three in the afternoon," she began, sounding agitated. "The girl who was at the desk looked up and saw these people and guns pointing at her and they were firing shots in the air. We found the empty shells . . . the police came and we have never seen anybody again afterwards."

"I begged . . . I rang everybody I could think of . . . we had no response what-so-ever. Mr Broughton promised me that he would give me some numbers that I could call and still nothing. I think he asked other people to do it, he didn’t follow up and it was not done. So we have had absolutely no assistance," said a now distraught Devaux.

She said she was "preparing to take on armed security, but that costs a lot of money." She said the six tourists were robbed on a path that passes right above her property and heads up into Coubaril. "This is not the first time tourists have been held up on that path. It happened just recently again on January 3. I am very disappointed. I rang Allen Chastanet, he told me he had spoken to Broughton, he has visited me, but we have had absolutely no response from the police," she said.

Ms Devaux’s desire for police support may soon become reality. In a STAR interview Commissioner Broughton noted that he had been "keeping tabs on the increased criminality in Soufriere." "I will be speaking to my SSU sergeant about placing some high level of policing in Soufriere, particularly at cruise ship arrivals. We have allocated a major crime unit to investigate this latest incident. People must understand that this kind of conduct must be condemned. We want the public to help us. They must understand that for a very small gain, there is a great deal of loss," said Broughton.

Meanwhile, both Chastanet and Broughton have insisted that the government’s call to action is not simply a postmortem result of Thursday’s robbery. "I think the fundamental change is that we have made a decision that we are no longer going to hide any of these changes. We are going to bring them out because we believe that ultimately we are protecting the criminals.

I was aware that there has been an escalation of criminal activities and I think it is corresponding to substantial increase in arrivals," said Chastanet. But it was Guy Joseph who sounded the warning to the invited press, reminiscent of 361 regulations: "We expect the media to do responsible broadcasting on these matters so that while we give the information it is not thrown out of proportion to make St Lucia look worse than it is."

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**Ally** · 02-15-2008, 07:54 AM

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Twenty-three-year-old Kaytia Polius was among the eight persons robbed at gunpoint by two masked men on a forest trail on Friday January 17. The young mother of a two-year-old girl, who was hospitalized after she sustained a blow to her abdomen, has had no source of income since the attack. Kaytia says she was depending on a promise made by Senator Allen Chastanet and Minister Guy Joseph, both in person and at the emergency press conference the ministers held following the incident.

At the time, both ministers had gone on and on about her bravery and their gratefulness for her sacrifice. A selfless act that could have cost her her life. Frustrated and angry, Kaytia told her story to this reporter. She sucked in huge amounts of air in order to compose herself knowing she had to relive the day of the robbery.

"We were by the mineral waterfall. The other guide told us to take our stuff so we can leave the area. Then there was a loud noise in the bush and by the time I turned around we were already at gun point," she began, sounding out of breath. Kaytia was the second tour guide on a walk consisting of six tourists. The two Americans and four Canadians were part of an original 26 passengers from the Norwegian Cruise Line who took that tour. At the start of the walk, the larger group was separated, to an uneven 20 to six.

"It is a two portion hike—at the end of the first part they bathe, then we collect our things and we go on the other side and we end at Morne Coubaril, where we have lunch. From there we head back to the cruise ship," she explained. It was during the first stop that the attack occurred, the bandits’ timing almost superb.

"By the time I turned to see what was happening we were already at gun point. They asked us to lie down, so I did. One of them had a gun, the other one had a cutlass and a knife," she said, regaining some strength in her voice. "All that time I was trying to look at their faces but unfortunately they are all masked up with clothes. They took the other guide’s cell phone. When I heard he said ‘dog the cell phone’ and he took the guy’s cell phone, I had mine in the pocket of my bag and I slipped it through my working shirt in the small front pocket.

"I don’t know if he saw me or not, but the other guy came after he searched the guests, they took cameras and other things. When he was about to leave, they realized they didn’t search me yet; he pulled the bag from me. He took my purse and he sent the bag and before he left he give me a kick by my waist. I felt like I was a bag and it hurt so much. Up to now I cannot understand why he chose to kick me," she said.

"The guests were not terrified because they were the ones trying to assist me because I was in a lot of pain. They brought me to the Soufriere Hospital. I was very traumatized.

"Chastanet and Joseph came to see me the same day about 6 or 7pm. When Mr Chastanet came his exact words were ‘I am so sorry.’ I told him that nobody expected that to happen. I never expected that I would almost lose my life. I told him that I understood the situation. He told me that everybody is so thankful of how I handled the situation, I didn’t panic. So I thanked him because I thought if somebody is giving you all that credit you have to say thank you," said Kaytia. She said that Chastanet and Joseph stayed with her for about five minutes.

"Mr Chastanet told me what was going on with the cruise ship, how the captain felt and that they sympathized with me. When he was about to leave he told me ‘anyway don’t worry we’ll be taking good care of you’. Guy Joseph even asked me exactly where I was living.

He asked me if I knew the girl in charge of communication and works in Dennery. I told him ‘yes, she knows where I live because were went to school together.’ He said he’d be visiting me. Up to a day like today I haven’t got a call from them, a visit, not even a hello, to find out how I’m doing. "Chastanet told me he would take care of my hospital bills . . . he told me he would take care of everything . . . up till now I haven’t heard anything. I have had no compensation!" said Kaytia.

"Exactly eight days after, I couldn’t sleep and I was still dreaming of everything that happened," she said, her voice now shaking. Kaytia, who has still not returned to work since the incident, relived the distress the injury had on her. "I had to get rubbed. I am still taking medication. I had to take bush medicine but I still have that pain and I’ll be starting work soon," she said.

"My manager is the one who brings me to see the doctor. She is the one who is taking care of me. Even when I saw my co-workers they were very upset because they couldn’t believe Chastanet never said anything to me after he knew I had a two-year-old daughter who just started school and I just started working after such a long time," she yelped.

Kaytia said she never asked for anything but took the ministers’ promises to heart, and in her dire state, she could have used the help. But the worse thing for this brave young woman is not the feeling of being deceived, it’s having to deal with her community’s insistence that the "government taking care of her."

"It all has to do with tourism. I mean if they don’t care I am not forcing them to care, but it makes no sense to have the whole community saying they taking care of me and that’s not true! People saying I getting it good!" she said angrily. "When I have to get up on a morning I have sit on the bed a long while. Can you imagine the Friday that happened I wanted to use the bathroom during the night and I could barely get up! When I most started moving everything ached . . . I couldn’t do anything. Only now I can bathe myself. I have to give credit to my co-workers and my manager because they are the only ones taking care of me."

Kaytia said that not all the ministers have turned a blind eye on her. "Even Mr Dalson shows more gratitude than Mr Chastanet and not even the district representative, Estaphane, that at the least, has said hello. Mr Dalson has always been speaking to me and he always wants to know exactly how I’m doing," said Kaytia, all the sorrow in her voice transformed to anger.

In his defense, Chastanet told this reporter that taking responsibility for medical bills isn’t a cut and dry process. "She has since been released and she seems to be in very good condition and didn’t need any further assessment. The company that she was hired with bore her costs," he said.

Asked whether there were plans for government to take care of guests and workers in future circumstances, Chastanet said: "In all instances it will be required that we will do so, but you have to very careful when it comes to the guests. That particular tour was an exclusive tour by Norwegian tours."

He agreed that NCL would be responsible for the guests and as well as "the agent that hosts the tour here. In this particular case it was Minvielle and Chastanet." Kaytia’s response? "I am wondering why this government is saying they are for the people when they are all for themselves."

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