Police convinced Sandy Bay tragedy could have been averted

While the nation is still trying to come to grips with the recent tragedy that occurred at Sandy Bay in which Tom “Dick” Sutherland shot his two young daughters, then killed them himself, some members of the police force are convinced that the tragedy could have been averted.{{more}}

One frustrated police officer told SEARCHLIGHT that Canouan police received information that Sutherland went to Canouan on Saturday, May 19 with a gun looking for Wandalyn Shallow his children’s mother. Sutherland didn’t find Shallow as her friends had hidden her. No one told Sutherland of her whereabouts.

Shallow was questioned by the police but she didn’t want to press charges. When the police asked her about her children as they had received information that Sutherland had threatened to harm them, she told the police that the children were safe and living with their grandmother and that she planned to send them to Barbados to live.

When Sutherland heard that the police were looking for him he hired a water taxi for $500, fled to Bequia then caught the Sunday ferry to the mainland. Sutherland committed the heinous act on Wednesday, May 20.

“Those children would have been safe today if only their mother had agreed to press charges,” the distraught officer said. (AC)