Brereton’s killing was brutal but not surprising says resident

The level of violence used to send Oswald “bag ah bread” Brereton from this world is alarming to some Belair residents.

But, some persons who knew him are not surprised that he was eventually murdered.

Brereton, 30, from Belair, was shot and chopped on December 25, Christmas Day, sometime after 12 a.m. on the verandah of a house where he was staying for a friend who is said to be overseas.

The community of Belair, not known for violence, heard gunshots at the time of the killing and later discovered Brereton fatally wounded and bloody with a chopped up face.

Someone, as is often done these days, took a photo of the deceased and circulated it on social media, the photo showing what can be described as a gruesome attack.

When SEARCHLIGHT visited the dead man’s family home on Wednesday, family members declined to speak saying they were not in the frame of mind to do so.

However one man who said he knew Brereton told SEARCHLIGHT, under condition of anonymity, that from his observations, the deceased was not a nice person and was not well liked in the community.

He said sometime last year, someone shot at Brereton but missed. The man also said on several occasions Brereton was unkind to his family members.

“He use to pull gun pon them and all kinda thing,” the man related while noting that it is the first in a very long time that someone has died in the area and hardly anyone has posted RIP on social media or anywhere else.

“He wasn’t well liked up here. I don’t think a lot of persons are going to miss him,” the man commented while adding that he was told that the killer or killers tried to hack off Brereton’s head with a hoe.

The man said also that rumours as to the cause of the murder are being circulated but he is not sure how much truth is in the stories as they range from Brereton being the driver of a car in a recent drive-by shooting, to the theft of drugs from foreigners.

The slaying of Brereton on Christmas Day pushed 2022 into the record books as the bloodiest year ever in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG). His death placed the number of homicides to 41; the previous record being 40 persons in 2016.