St. Kitts hangs murderer in rare execution in English-speaking Caribbean

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — St. Kitts and Nevis has hanged a convicted murderer in the first execution in the English-speaking Caribbean in nearly a decade.

Officials say Charles Elroy Laplace, sentenced to death in February 2006 for killing his wife, was hanged Friday inside Her Majesty's Prison in Basseterre.

Legal restrictions imposed by colonial powers in Europe, together with overwhelming international opposition, have all but ended capital punishment in the region.

Nobody had been executed in the Caribbean outside Cuba since the Bahamas hanged a convicted killer in 2000.

But soaring crime is prompting islanders to demand the resumption of capital punishment.

The execution order against Laplace was approved by the governor general of St. Kitts and Nevis, where eight others remain on death row.

Prime Minister Denzil Douglas said earlier this month that he is alarmed by rising crime and called on parents to teach their children "what is right from wrong."

At least 22 people have been killed this year in shootings and stabbings in the twin-island federation of nearly 40,000 people, up from 17 killings in 2007.

Opponents of capital punishment say governments should focus instead on reducing poverty and corruption.

In Jamaica, where parliament recently voted to affirm the death penalty, Amnesty International responded by calling on the government to reform its justice system and set up an independent commission to investigate police abuses.

Source: abolish!, December 19, 2008

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