Saint Lucia, Soufriere: Violent Boarding at night and Robbery – October 2017
Armed boarding and assault – charter catamaran with 2 families on board.
Published 6 years ago, updated 5 years ago
DATE: 2017-10-25 01:30
Country Name: St. Lucia
Location Detail: Soufriere
EVENT: Assault
HAND: First-hand report by victims
Stolen Items: Cash and mobile phones, dinghy
SECURED: Locked
DETAILS:
Guests on board a chartered catamaran on an SMMA mooring in Soufriere, St. Lucia, were awakened at 0130 am when they were boarded by 4 men. Two of the men were armed with guns, and one with a knife, all had their faces concealed.
Three of the men damaged a deck hatch to break into the locked yacht while the fourth cut the davit lines on the dinghy during this violent boarding. There were 6 members of the charter group, 2 families, each with a teenage daughter.
The women and children quickly locked themselves inside a cabin. There were many threats and a short struggle. One victim was hit in the face with a gun, the other hit on the head. The borders demanded cash, cell phones, and passports. The cash and cellphones were surrendered readily and the passports and access to the locked cabin refused. After 20 terrifying minutes of further threats of violence and death, the 4 men left with the dinghy.
Reports were made to the charter base and police.
The police took NO forensic evidence and told the victims and the charter company that they did “not want any media involved as it might scare tourists”. The charter company has assisted the victims with communications and arranged for a local media outlet to film an interview, which has not been broadcast. The dinghy was abandoned ashore and later recovered.
The police have since asked for some details about the stolen cell phones by email, but have not informed the victims of any arrests in this matter. The victims describe this as a “violent, aggressive and prolonged attack that left their families traumatized” and point out that at no point during the charter briefing were they informed of any “no go” or problem areas. They were advised to use the cable and lock provided to secure the dinghy when ashore.
CSSN NOTE: As a matter of policy CSSN will publish updates if police confirm to the victims that there has been significant progress in this matter.
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Related to the following Cruising Resources: Piracy & Security
St Lucia is a small island. It’s very likely the police at least have a very good idea who was behind this if they don’t know exactly. This is why it’s so important to call as much attention to these crimes as possible. The pain/cost of protecting the criminals must be greater than cost of covering up the crimes.
This was a very unfortunate incident. However the silver lining is that they really stepped up security. The now have numerous nightly patrols by both the SMMA and the police. There have been no problems since.