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Peter Hazelwood (in-green) and his brother Andrew Hazelwood are charged with the stabbing murder of Kommer Sheen/Cyrus.
Peter Hazelwood (in-green) and his brother Andrew Hazelwood are charged with the stabbing murder of Kommer Sheen/Cyrus.

KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent: – Police here on Tuesday charged two brothers with one of the five killings last weekend as investigations into the other homicides continued.

Peter Hazelwood, 24, and Andre Hazelwood, 22, both of Layou, appeared before a magistrate in Kingstown to hear murder charges read to them.

They are charged with killing fellow townsman, 25-year-old labourer Kommer Sheen/Cyrus last Friday at the Leeward Bus Terminal.

Sheen/Cyrus died of stab wounds sustained during an altercation about 5:30 p.m., police said.

The men were not expected to plea to the indictable charge and were remanded at Her Majesty’s Prison.

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Assistant Commissioner of Police Glenroy Brewster told a press briefing on Tuesday that police investigation up to that time suggested that the death of Dave Charles and Debra Shallow, 43, both of Cane Grove/Pembroke, was a murder-suicide.

Brewster said that police had not established a motive for the deaths and said that a final determination of the nature of the killings will be made based on autopsy results.

It is believed that Charles, a minibus driver and ex-cop also known as “Kish” and “One Shot”, killed his accountant girlfriend and set their house on fire before killing himself Saturday morning.

Their bodies were found on the ground floor of their two-storey home while fire-fighters responded to a blaze at the house during the predawn hours of Saturday morning.

Brewster also said that investigations were ongoing into the deaths of Mywando “Tiba” Diamond, 26, of Campden Park and Leslie Ollivierre, 52, of Arnos Vale at the Coconut Beach Hotel in Villa on Sunday.

He said that police found the bodies at the scene and both men suffered blunt trauma to the head.

A motive for those killings was not yet established.

Assistance call

Brewster appealed to the people of this country to assist police with their investigations.

“We in St. Vincent and the Grenadines like to enjoy a state of peace and calm,” he said, saying that the police have been consulting civil society to try to combat crime here.

Persons with information can contact the police at telephone numbers (1784) 456-1810 or (1784) 457-1211 ext 225, 226, 227.

“Citizens of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, we are again appealing for your support,” Brewster said.

Fewer gun deaths

Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner of Police Bertie Pompey told reporters that the 14 homicides recorded so far this year were five fewer than the corresponding period of 2008.

He also noted that nine of those 14 homicides had been solved and that only three of the total involved the use of firearms.

“An individual is dead regardless of the method… The weapon used does not make the homicide less trivial,” he said, adding that police needed to know if there were fewer guns in the country than last year.

Police have said that their tactics have resulted in a reduction in serious crimes here.

The statement came on the heels of Operation Vincy Pac in June, which included cops from other Caribbean nations.

During that exercise, police destroyed marijuana plantations, confiscated 12 guns and 394 rounds of ammunition, and shot and killed three men in Vermont, an agricultural community west of here.

Shortly after that operation, Commissioner of Police Keith Miller told a local newspaper that he had instructed his officers to continue to pile on the pressure on criminal elements here.

He told the newspaper that “a number of guns went into hiding” during the operation and a strong police presence kept them off the street during the carnival activities, which ended in early July.

Police did not disclose the location of an “abandoned building” where they in early August found a rifle capable of discharging 700-900 rounds per minute and hitting a target two kilometres (1.24 miles) away.