Justice Greaves urges Barbadians to speak up about gang members

The High Court judge, in urging Barbadians to speak up, warned that unless they did so, they could end up like deceased teenager Michael Edwards, who was gunned down in a case of mistaken identity.

The judge told Barbadians who knew that their relatives were involved in gangs to “put them out” and those with information about a crime to “speak up”.

Justice Greaves was ordering Livardo Rogelio Hinds, 35, of Durants, Lodge Road, Christ Church, to spend life in prison with a tariff of 45 years before he can be released and the second man, Kemar Glenville Stoute, 37, of Block 3E Bottom Close, Wildey, St Michael, to 25 years.

Senate debate

“The State should maintain an interest for life, in keeping such persons under their supervision,” the judge said, adding that should be the case, especially since it was “a tit-for-tat gang killing”.

The sentencing yesterday also coincided with debate taking place in the Senate on the Criminal Gangs (Prevention And Control) Bill, 2026.

Edwards was shot nine years ago outside his home and evidence in the trial suggested that the teen, who was killed on February 2, 2017, was not a gang member, nor was he associated with any of them. It was a case of mistaken identity.

Describing it as a case which should drive each Barbadian to take “gang behaviour seriously”, the judge said “we cannot escape by recoiling or residing in the philosophy that it is them and not us . . . . It is the gangsters . . . the criminals . . . killing one another . . . And we do not speak up when we are supposed to, or give evidence in court.

“If you have gun dealers and gang members among you, put them from your premises! Report them!” he said.

‘Saving your own life’

“It should not matter whether the culprit is your brother, sister, son, father, friend, or friend of a friend – you may be saving your own life,” he emphasised.

The judicial officer went on to say “silence, arrogance, recalcitrant – or to use a Bajan term, don’t careishness . . . only emboldens and enables the gangsters and illegal firearm carriers in this country to do what they do”.

“It is only a matter of time before it is an innocent you,” Justice Greaves warned.

“Based on the evidence, this case seems to have come out of the development of a gang culture in this country,” the judge stated, adding that it led “in significant part to the death of Michael Edwards”.

“An innocent victim taking a relaxing moment on his own compound, when he was, unfortunately, gunned down,” Justice Greaves remarked.

The evidence, he said, suggested that the intention “was to kill a person associated with a rival gang”.

While Hinds will spend 45 years before he can be considered for release, the judge told Stoute that he was “lucky” to be found guilty of manslaughter because he must have known when he went to Sargeants Village with a gun that day that he was either “going to kill or commit serious bodily harm”.

Defence attorneys Saffiya Moore and Michael Rivera appeared on behalf of Hinds, while Senior Counsel Angella Mitchell-Gittens represented Stoute.

Appearing for the prosecution was Acting Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Krystal Delaney, in association with Acting Senior State Counsel Anastasia McMeo Boyce. (SD)