Issue of criminal deportees to the Caribbean gets attention of US Congressman

The recent arrest here, of a deportee from the United States for the murder of a local business woman and the kidnapping of another, has strengthened the resolve of a Vincentian woman in the United States to lend her voice to efforts to change how the reintegration of criminals deported from North America to Caribbean countries is handled by the governments on both sides.{{more}}

One month ago, when Rosanne Small-Morgan heard that Veron Primus, a criminal deportee from the United States had been charged with the November 2015 murder of Sharleen Greaves and the kidnapping of Mewanah Hadaway here in St Vincent, she says it felt as if her skin was being ripped off.

Eight years before Primus’ recent arrest, on April 22, 2008, the partly decomposed body of Lorna Small was found in a shallow grave at the Belair Cemetery. The 73-year-old retired librarian had gone missing five days before. She was Small-Morgan’s mother.

Police later charged 31-year-old Junior Quashie with Small’s murder. Quashie, a deportee from Canada is said to have a history of mental illness. Today, Quashie remains in custody, his case not having yet been heard, as the court awaits a report on his psychiatric state.

Police in St Vincent and the Grenadines say when deportees with a criminal history are returned to St Vincent and the Grenadines, they not given any information by law enforcement in the sending country about the criminal history of the person being sent back.

Last Friday, Small-Morgan was interviewed at her home in New York by Mary Murphy of Pix11 News as part of Murphy’s coverage of the 2006 murder of Chanel Petro-Nixon in Brooklyn and the connection between that and the crimes for which Primus has been charged in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

This is Small-Morgan’s second attempt to bring about change relating to how criminal deportees are reintegrated into societies in the Caribbean.

She said one year after her mother’s murder she started a discussion, blog and group on social media, but was surprised at the reaction of some to the idea of a deportee database.

“I wanted it to be for especially dangerous and mentally unstable deportees. One man said it was very unfair and asked me if I thought my mother was the only person ever murdered! So this was a year after her death and I stopped because I had to heal and become stronger.”

Small-Morgan said the whole matter has now come back “to haunt us big time,” and her objective now is to get the public and other Caribbean islands on board, with the help of the United States government and the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to change the laws of reintegrating criminals into our community.

According to Small-Morgan, Greaves’ murder and the kidnapping of Hadaway, allegedly by Primus, have relit her commitment to adding her voice and her mother’s memory “to bring the human side to this issue.

“Stats are one thing, but an actual face and a family’s loss is another. So whatever I can do within reason of course I will lend my voice to this cause.”

She said she also intends to reach out to US Congressman Hakeem Jeffries who represents the Brooklyn district where Veron Primus went to school and where Primus’ former classmate Chanel Peto-Nixon was found strangled in a garbage bag in 2006. Jeffries was also interviewed by Mary Murphy and part of that interview was posted on Murphy’s Facebook page. He explained why a summit is needed, involving the Caribbean, Latin American, and US. law enforcement community.

“A large part of the problem is that many felons were being sent back to these countries from our prisons here in America without adequate communication to the local host countries as to who they would be receiving, and so there was already the belief among many of us in Congress that we need to look further into this situation. The Primus case is Exhibit A as to why we have to strengthen our communication and the first step is to bring law enforcement down in the Caribbean and Latin America together with law enforcement here in America as well as our immigration to see how we can improve our communication.”

Small-Morgan said now that the issue of criminal deportees has the attention of the public, she hopes everyone gets behind the initiative as it is “… for an improved quality of life for everyone.

“Also I am not trying to target hard working and law abiding people who are struggling daily to make an improved life for themselves and families. This about dangerous felons and mentally unstable people who we are not being properly notified about.”