When the murder occurred, Stacy Wilson was a 21-year-old girl. This girl’s murder has been a sad event for many over the years. Curious? Here are the facts:
The murder took place on December 11, 2006, almost 15 years ago
It happened at the bus terminal in Kingstown, Saint Vincent by an assailant armed with a machete. The attacker was a man named Shorn Samuel. He cut off Wilson’s right hand at the first opportunity and then cut the poor girl’s neck. Samuel was later captured by several passersby in the vicinity, some of whom took some horrendous graphic photos. Even to this day, Stacy Wilson bus crime scene photos are still “haunting” many people.
Samuel has a long history of harassing Stacy Wilson
The two knew each other and they lived in Vermont, a small farming town north of Kingstown. About 12 km to the north of the capital of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Shorn Samuel has other names Sean Samuel, and Abdul Rahim Parsons. His Islamic nickname is Islamaam. Wilson was Samuel’s distant cousin and the man visited the Wilson family regularly. But as time goes on, the visit became terrible for Wilson as Samuel intended to make her his wife. Wilson was shocked and asked Samuel not to visit her house again but Samuel continued to visit her regularly after apologizing for his inappropriate request.
Threat barrage
Emelia Nanton, Wilson’s mother, told reporters that Samuel often visited their house when Wilson was leaving for work. Samuel kept asking Wilson to be his wife. One day, Nanton lost his temper and threw a bowl of Clorox in Samuel’s face.
A murder took place
On the afternoon of Monday, December 11, 2006, Wilson was sitting in a minibus waiting for passengers at the Leeward bus terminal in Kingstown, the Stacy Wilson bus crime scene. The woman was about to go home after working as a hospital worker. A few hours earlier, Samuel had visited her at the hospital, asking her once again if she would be willing to become his wife. But Wilson refused the request. Someone had witnessed the interaction. Wilson left work just before 4pm to catch the bus that would take her home to Vermont. The same witness saw Samuel walking behind Wilson, trying to convince her to talk to him. Samuel then got on the same bus. On the bus, Samuel kept trying to talk to Wilson only to got rejected.
Samuel continued to talk to Wilson and changed seats several times. In the end Samuel moved and sat directly behind the bus driver. Then he walked back and carried a short sword he had just bought (still had the price tag on). Then while continuing to argue Samuel attacked Wilson. He started cutting Wilson with the sword he was carrying. After the first hit Wilson fell into the driver’s lap and then jumped out the window. Once outside, Wilson hid at the bottom of the bus but Samuel dragged her out and cut off her right hand, right at the wrist. As Wilson fell to the ground, Samuel started cutting Wilson’s neck and it cut off leaving a piece of skin.
After the murder
Samuel then lifted Wilson’s head, removed the remaining skin, kissed Wilson’s face one last time, and threw it to the ground. Police later arrived and they found Wilson’s head 15 feet from the murder spot. While her hand was 20 feet away. When the police arrived, Samuel did not put up a fight and he immediately knelt down while throwing away his sword and raising his hands above his head. What was surprising was that the killer seemed innocent, even he saluted the crowd when he was taken away by the police.
Many people felt lost
One week later, December 19, 2006, Wilson’s family, friends, and co-workers gathered at the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Vermont. They let Wilson go and most of them started reminiscing about Wilson’s life, starting with his mother, Emelia Nanton. Terrance Haynes, the pastor, delivered a speech and asked everyone to live their own lives better. Haynes also criticized those who shared Wilson’s graphic photos on the Internet, calling them immoral.
The Wilson case is not the first beheading
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines may not be an area with a large population but the area has had several beheadings before Wilson, one of which was the beheading of Albert Browne. The case happened 3 years before the Wilson case.
Samuel made a claim
After several months of being arrested, Samuel demanded to be transferred to a separate cell because he admitted that he was often bullied by fellow prisoners and the guards. Samuel also demanded that new trial document be given because the old one had been torn. Surprisingly, he also accused Ronald Marks’ lawyer of threatening him with an additional three years in prison even though Marks was not the attorney for the killer Wilson. Samuel continued to tantrum by not wanting to sing the national anthem at the institution on the grounds that his grandfather never did.
Samuel was sentenced to death but never executed
Nearly 2 years after the murder, on October 15, 2008, 12 jurors unanimously convicted Shorn Samuel, and thus he was sentenced to death. But the killer was never executed. Dr. Amrie Morris-Patterson, senior registrar at the Center for Mental Health, told the court that Samuel had a long history of mental illness. He was treated in Brooklyn, New York, United States for delusions, acute psychotic symptoms, and molestation. He was also admitted to the Mental Health Center in Kingstown after breaking a window at the National Commercial Bank. Samuel said he was arrested because he is a Muslim. Stephen Williams, Samuel’s attorney, tried to defend himself by assuming that Samuel was going through a period of mental illness when he killed Wilson. After the verdict was given, Samuel appealed and he succeeded because in the end he got a life sentence.
