The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Chief Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE country’s murder count rose by one on Tuesday when a man died in hospital after being shot outside a nightclub in Abaco on Monday.  

Police have yet to identify the victim, but said he was a Haitian national.

He was one of three men shot outside a nightclub on SC Bootle Highway after midnight Monday.

Police could not say what led to the shooting, but officials told The Tribune  that several men are in custody.

 The remaining shooting victims are said to be in stable condition. 

 This latest murder is Abaco’s third for the year and the 62nd for the country, according to The Tribune’s records.

 Faron Newbold, chief councillor for Central Abaco’s district council, called the rise of crime on the island concerning and attributed it to the island’s growing economy.

 He said many “strangers” flock to the island for work and do not leave after falling in love with Abaco. 

 He called on businesses to start doing more background checks when hiring workers from other islands, insisting most of the criminals are non-Abaco residents. 

 “These guys are not being vetted so you expect that some of them would come with criminal backgrounds,” he said. 

 “Also, we have a lot of companies coming in from Nassau, and they bring these workers with them as well, and in a lot of the cases, persons committing these crimes are not residents, so that’s why I believe that the major cause in the increase.” 

 “I lived here all my life, and I don’t know the majority of them that I’ve seen committing these crimes.”

 Mr Newbold also believes more resources are needed, noting difficulties in policing Abaco because of its many communities and cays.

 “It’s so many outskirt settlements, and they have all the cays that they have to manage, so I would agree to say that their manpower is not sufficient to maintain or manage or control crime at the level that we expect it to,” he said.

 In the meantime, he is urging residents and businesses to remain vigilant and get surveillance cameras. 

 “A lot of businesses need to put in surveillance cameras as well because it can also be a deterrent as well as it can help solve crime, and I think that can also assist with some of the crime levels that are going on in the island,” he added.