Sarah1234

Hi I wonder if you can help me with this strange question, my friend ( different one!) was assaulted a few days ago receiving bruising etc.
He had his camera on him at the time and videoed part of the assault, certainly capturing most of the verbal abuse up to the event.
He reported it to the police and they took a statement, however when he returned the next day to submit a doctors report they told him that he was in the wrong because he had upset the other two guys by taking photos of them. They were therefore dropping the charges as it was illegal to take photos of people in St Lucia and if he continued with the matter he would be arrested and charged.

This begs the question, what are the rules on taking photos in St Lucia as I am getting conflicting messages. Does anyone know?

pgtips

Sarah your friend must use common sense. You would not go anywhere on this earth and just start taking pictures of strangers without their permission, so why would he do that in St Lucia. If some stranger started taking pictures of me without my permission I would be most upset and view it as a gross invasion of my privacy. If he is taking general pictures of the scenery or beaches that is another matter. Definately no pictures to be taken in the Airports or other official buildings.

Sarah1234

Thanks for your reply PG Tips, point accepted, however what is the law, or if you dont know do you know where I can find out at little cost?. Surely being beaten up is not acceptable in any instance.

pgtips

Sarah being beaten up is totally against the law and unacceptable. Tell him to contact his local MP if he is getting no joy with the police.

Sarah1234

OK thanks for the advice.

Pistolpete2

Pg,

I'm not sure that you are clear as to whether this set-upon individual is a St Lucian or another nationality. If he is a St Lucian then fine, go the MP route possibly but if he is not, then the British High Commission or similar is obviously the better route since no local MP cares much about a foreigner if it involves a p...ing competition with the police.

Sarah,

I'm trying to understand this more:

Just over three years ago, the Acting Police Commissioner John Broughton allowed a film crew from the UK, one of which he was apparently personally acquainted with, to film daily activity in Castries alongside the police force. Included in this shoot was a section devoted to some rastas who took great exception to the whole process as they thought they were being singled out for evidence of wrong-doing and/or being demonstrated as being typical criminal types. I recall the Police Association had great difficulty with this but then at the time the police commissioner did not have the support of the police force at large mainly for political reasons.

I'm thinking that the present police have this in mind when they say it is unlawful but see below:

http://www.un.int/stlucia/consularse...ginstlucia.htm

Of course the above is for professional film shoots but may be another reason certain uninformed police choose to take your friend's case as being unlawful.

I've spoken to an informed St Lucian who advises that your case as described was absolutely insane but then he said much of St Lucian life is just that.

Sarah1234

Dear PistolPete,

Thank you for this, it is very interesting. My friend has contacted a lawyer and asked specifically if it is illegal to film/take photos of anyone in St Lucia, (he is awaiting a reply),particularly as the event took place on his own property and he was attacked by people that should not have been there.

I will keep you informed.

Sarah

Pistolpete2

pgtips

Attacked on his own property, there is obviously a bit more to the story.

Sarah1234

Yes there is, there are squatters in part of his house, he is fighting the legal route to get them out, however they know this and are therefore very abusive and nasty. That is why he videoed them etc.

Pistolpete2

This particular thread gets worse and worse as an example of "life" in St Lucia, the more it unravels. Maybe we should quit while we are still "ahead".

The biggest trouble is that this is new negative stuff, just when we thought there was quite enough to be going along with.

Sarah1234

I agree Peter, I will just let you know what happens in the end.

Thanks guys for all your help.

pgtips

Pistolpete2 we have quatters in the UK also. Usually when a really expensive property has been empty for a while they break in and claim squatters rights. There was a group of them living in a property in the most expensive street in the UK, Bishops Avenue where properties change hands for millions of pounds. The police are powerless to evict them unless it has been ordered by the courts and the owners of the property will be committing a criminal offence if they try to forcefully evict them. Squatters rights is crazy, but you are not allowed to even harrass them and have to go through the courts to have them moved. They can only claim squatters rights if a property has been left empty for quite a while.

Pistolpete2

Believe me I do know about squatters and their rights in the UK pg but was not expecting this sort of thing, with all the other ugly connotations, in Marigot Bay.

When we are talking about St Lucia and its failings, people invariably say that there are crooked politicians and there is crime the world over, even crooked cops and now squatters. So why worry about here?

When you factor in the lack of rights of property owners here to quietly enjoy their property without fear of trespass and intrusion and the lack of rights to be adequately protected by legal process and law enforcement, with no functioning mechanism where for example landlords have a reasonable chance of being paid their rent, you realise that in spite of much of St Lucia now being priced for paradise or perfection compared with some of the better parts of London or the UK for example, you end up feeling that it is actually drastically overpriced. This particularly bearing in mind how incredibly illiquid real estate actually is here.

If the multitude of lawyers here would just do their bit to clean-up the antiquated criminal and civil justice system with a little help from the attorney general to rope in the police mechanisms we might see some better value in this fair soil.

danieal

hi.

you are right its illegal to take photos of people in St Lucia and anyone would be arrested and charged

For that you have to take prior permissions to take photos..