The Case Of Boat Crew Charged For Grievous Harm And Causing Harm To Anderson Peters And Brother
The recent incident that took place aboard the Harbour Master from Barbados, with its crew from Trinidad, which involved our world champion javelin thrower, Anderson Peters and his brother Kiddon Peters, was very unfortunate.
The incident was said to have stemmed from the crew members asking Anderson to leave the boat since they had another cruise to host. It is said that Anderson refused to leave the boat and on top of that, assaulted the captain, resulting in him and his brother being badly beaten and Anderson being thrown overboard. The boat was confiscated and the crew members were charged with the offences of grievous harm and bodily harm. Four of the men pleaded guilty and were subsequently brought back to court on Wednesday for sentencing, where they were fined a total of five thousand dollars each to be paid immediately
What was and perhaps still is amazing, is how Grenadians by and large reacted to the whole situation. Yes, I agree, that after looking at the video footage, one’s initial reaction and instinct would be that these guys took advantage of the victim or victims as was revealed after since the video
only showed Anderson, and not his brother being beaten up. However, when good sense begins to prevail, one must ask the question, what could have caused these guys to be so angry that they beat up a guy like this?
Now, further information would unfold and reveal the whole issue that the guy is Anderson Peters who is a Grenadian world champion, and that his brother is a police officer. Then it was later revealed that the crew was from Trinidad, and the boat was from Barbados. And this is where the whole incident got out of control in the public domain. On social media, the issue was hotter than any other topic around that time, even today. Unfortunately, however, the whole issue became a Trinidad and Grenada ‘war’. While the incident involved persons from different nationalities, I believe that it was blown out of proportion as it relates to nationality. There was only one person whom I agreed with while going through the various comments posted.
The Clerk of Parliament, Mr Andrew Augustine, perhaps because he was brought up differently or because he attended one of the most prestigious schools on the island (SAASS), and was taught by people like Creswell Julien and the likes, commented on Facebook and said that he does not support acts of violence, but that we should stop making this a Grenada/Trinidad issue. We should remember that we are one people, and our aunts and uncles and cousins who live in Trinidad, really have nothing to do with this issue. Therefore, let justice prevail, but at the same time let us put aside this discrimination against our brothers and sisters from Trinidad, (or words to that effect).
Justice has been handed down, and everyone involved hopefully would have learned their lesson. Anderson, in the first place, might learn how to control his liquor, that while he is a world champion, he is a person first, and that he should respect every other person if he wants to be respected. He should know that when he is in someone else’s domain, he should show respect, especially to authority.
So, if the captain asked him to leave the ship, he should have just left like everybody else and not assaulted the captain of a ship, or anybody for that matter. The crew members of that ship should also learn to deal with situations like this more tactfully, and not ‘fight fire with fire’. And we the public looking on, should learn that there must be other amicable ways to solve problems and that violence at any level that involves anyone, despite your status or who you are, is wrong. We should also see our brothers and sisters in the Caribbean as one people just separated by water. So, despite whatever differences we might have, it should never be a national issue but a personal one and should be dealt with as such. JUST A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE.
By David Allard
English