President of the St. Lucia Senate Arrested and Charged in Relation to Major Murder Case
CASTRIES, St. Lucia – The President of the St. Lucia Senate, Stanley Felix, will re-appear in court on November 16, after he was granted EC$15,000 (One EC dollar=US$0.37 cents) on a charge of perverting the course of justice.
Stanley Felix, President of the SenateFelix, 59, appeared before Magistrate Bertlyn Reynolds after he was arrested by police on Thursday as law enforcement officials continue their investigations into a murder.
According to the charge read out in court, Felix had “between 2.00 pm on Thursday, the 21st day of April 2022, and 10.00 am on Sunday, the 24th day of April, 2022 at the Anse La Raye Police Station, west of here, “with the intention of concealing a crime to wit; murder, did attempt to induce Kyle Alexander aka Kyle Daniel to withhold evidence of the occurrence of the said crime, which had the tendency to pervert the course of justice, contrary to section 376 of the Criminal Code…of the Revised Laws of St. Lucia 2013”.
As part of the condition for bail, Felix, an attorney, is to report to the police every first Saturday as well as surrender his travel documents. He must not leave the country without permission.
The main opposition United Workers Party (UWP) has already called for the removal of Felix as President of the Senate even as Prime Minister Phillip J Pierre said he would be making a ‘statement at the appropriate time” after Felix “was taken into custody” on Thursday.
But in a statement, the UWP said that “Felix was arrested and is expected to be charged in relation to a major case being investigated by the Royal St. Lucia Police Force.
“In light of this astounding development and the sensitivity of the position of President of the Senate, the United Workers Party calls on Prime Minister Philip J Pierre to immediately relieve Stanley Felix of that position in light of the pending charges expected to be laid today.
“The vague statement put out from the Office of the Prime Minister, late in the day, when it was already public knowledge that Stanley Felix had been in police custody since 10.00 am (local time) sheds little on what evidently is a very serious matter”.
The UWP, which lost the last general election here in July last year, said it viewed the development as “another dark day in the history of St. Lucia, when the country is already battered by an increase in serious crime, particularly robberies and gun related homicides.
“The United Workers Party further urges Prime Minister Philip J Pierre to rid his government of any unsavory characters and criminal elements within his Cabinet in the interest of this country,” the party said.
Also appearing in court on Friday was Marvin Gabriel, 35, who the prosecution alleges had between February 22 and February 23, at Morne Road on the outskirts of the capital “being the leader of the Odlum City gang did participate in gang related activity contrary to section 3 of the Anti-Gang Act”.
The police have also charged Gabriel for aiding and abetting another person, Kendell Chadwick, in a gang related activity.
