Senator reliving gun incident

Weeks after being robbed at gunpoint in the village where he was born and raised, Opposition Senator Caswell Franklyn is being haunted by the ugly memories of that night.

Franklyn said the incident has left him so traumatised that he believes the time has come for persons who carry out unlawful acts to face stiffer penalties, like years in jail, when they go before the law courts.

“I am now recovering. But I can still see this gun in my face ever so often. It ain’t like I could just turn it off. In my quiet moments I keep remembering it,” he told Barbados TODAY.

The incident reportedly occurred just before midnight on Friday, December 20, 2019, at Rock Hall, St Thomas where Franklyn and several others were playing dominoes.

It has left the quiet community shocked.

The Senator, who indicated that he left the island to go on vacation the following day, said during his ten-day stay in St Lucia he struggled through many sleepless nights reminiscing on how the situation could have ended differently.

“The people who were there with me are people that I know when they were born. Some of them around the same age with me. Two of the people that got robbed, are unemployed. One fella had BDS$7 and change in his pocket. Them ain’t people that you want to rob, not that you should rob anybody at all.

“That is Rock Hall, St Thomas, nothing don’t happen in Rock Hall, St Thomas. I was within yards from the spot where I was born. My navel string bury around that same place,” he said.

Stating that he would not allow thugs to control his life, Franklyn said he has since returned to the scene, but has been more vigilant.

“I thought a murder was going to happen you know. I was there stiff waiting for the bullet to enter me because the guy was nervous. The guy that was searching my pocket, he was trembling. The guy with the shotgun seemed to be the guy in control and was giving the orders and stuff. They were under his control but not confident in what they were doing. They were like recruits to the trade.

“But I think he recognized me and he stepped back and took the gun out of my face and when he did that that calmed the situation. But I was thinking about my friends and hoping that they did nothing to aggravate the situation,” Franklyn said.

The trade unionist related that when the guys left the spot, they headed to a nearby location where a resident was shot just above his kneecap.

“He shot and because it wasn’t a good shot he hit the knee,” Franklyn said.

The senator advised those in the judicial system that when sentencing perpetrators of serious crime, the punishment administered should be just as harsh as the crime.

“If a fella knows that if he rob somebody and he get catch he gine get lock up next week, and he will spend a good long time round there, I think that would be some sort of deterrent. But no, fellas are out for years on bail.

“The police do their job but then the system fail the police and fail the citizens of Barbados. The police catch you and they let you go to let you do it again,” he said.

“We need long stiff sentences for these fools. If somebody want to put somebody’s life in danger, he should spend a good part of his life away from the population. And he shouldn’t be telling you about he had 2,000 days on remand and if you can give he time off. When you catch a fella his punishment should be swift and stiff,” Franklyn continued.

The person shot during the robbery received medical attention and has since been released.
anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb