I’m not trying to be Nancy Grace here, though there’s a story that I wrote about in April that has stuck with me ever since. It’s a story where just about every week I’ve been Googling to see if there were any updates, since I found the situation to be so strange.
How an Anguilla hotel worker got killed by a guest
On April 13, 2019, a hotel worker at a luxury resort in Anguilla was killed by an American tourist who was a guest at the hotel and who was traveling with his family.
As the situation was explained:
- The hotel worker showed up at the hotel room around 4PM and said he had to fix a sink, so the occupant let him in (the guest hadn’t called for anyone)
- The hotel worker demanded money and had a knife, and then violently attacked the family
- The American was able to restrain the hotel worker, and then several hotel employees showed up; however, he refused to let go (he wasn’t sure if the other hotel employees were in on this as well), and the hotel worker ended up dying while being held down
Let me emphasize that this is all what was alleged to have happened, though just about everyone has been skeptical about the story. I think everyone had a different theory as to what could have gone down here, though suffice to say that the circumstances are absolutely shocking.
This death caused huge uproar in Anguilla. The man was arrested and initially denied bail, but was then released on a $74,000 bond following an appeal. He returned to the US, with a promise to return for his court appearance.
What’s the latest with this case?
There are some interesting updates regarding this case.
First of all, the man’s court appearance is this week, as the case is scheduled for Thursday, August 22, 2019. The police has issued an Osman warning (that they can’t guarantee his safety, given the uproar). So the American is trying to see if he can attend the hearing remotely without returning to the island, given safety concerns.
There are two other interesting updates, though.
First of all, Stamford Advocate reports that the hotel worker tested positive for cocaine, Delta-9 THC (the active substance in marijuana), and other drugs, and had a blood alcohol level of 0.181 (the legal limit for driving in the US is 0.08, so he was more than twice over that limit).
Second of all, the New York Times reports that on March 25 (less than three weeks before this incident), the hotel worker was arrested and charged with rape. He spent a night in jail and was released on bail.
It’s believed that a criminal conviction would have caused him to lose his permit to work in Anguilla, and therefore would have caused him to have to leave the island.
The alleged incident involved his girlfriend, who said after the fact:
“It wasn’t a rape. It was a misunderstanding. We had a spat. We had a disagreement. That was it.”
Bottom line
I’ll be curious how this unfolds over the next few days. No matter how you slice it, this is a really sad story.
I will say that the details about the hotel worker being drunk and on drugs, as well as his previous case, does present a slightly different picture than before.
The thing is, even if the situation was as the American described, there’s still the question of him holding the hotel worker down for an extended period of time, which is what killed him. Was he justified in doing that in self defense, given that he couldn’t trust other hotel employees, or should he be held accountable for that?
I’ll keep an eye on this, and am curious to see how this unfolds.
(Tip of the hat to Pete)
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