Word that a young Belgian woman who had gone missing a day earlier had been found dead under suspect circumstances in the Nettle Bay area on Sunday spread quickly throughout the island and soon overshadowed
other news such as the Euro 2016 soccer final and GEBE’s continued power cuts. Few details are known, but the French Gendarmes have opened a homicide investigation.
It’s hard to even imagine the grief of the victim’s family, who were scheduled to return home on Saturday only to see their vacation end in complete horror. Speculating as to why makes little sense at this point, but there is clearly a serious threat against public safety that should be tackled decisively and, if necessary, jointly by authorities on both sides of the island.
It must be said, that kind of law enforcement cooperation has improved vastly over the years although it involves two separate countries. The chance of committing an offence and easily escaping by dashing across the open border is therefore much smaller than used to be the case.
The fact that it regarded visitors is obviously not good for the tourism economy, but readers also can take note that not every report on crime in today’s paper is bad. An alert gas station attendant prevented being robbed and two men were arrested for illegal gun possession.
Granted, these achievements may seem rather insignificant when compared with the terrible tragedy on the French side, but all small victories do add up. When it comes to society’s last line of defence there’s simply no giving in.
