Heading abroad to escape gangs

An increasing number of young men are fleeing Bermuda’s gang scene to seek refuge overseas.

Lawyer Llewellyn Peniston revealed this week that two teenage brothers who were due to face drug charges had left the island because they feared they were top of a gang “hit list”.

One of the brothers had been shot twice in the past six months.

Earlier this month 20-year-old Ronnie Furbert told a court he had left Bermuda because he feared for his safety after witnessing a shooting in a club in St. George’s.

Also this month a court heard that a defendant in a $60,000 bank theft plot —Roger Lightbourne — had fled overseas, apparently for safety reasons.

These are not isolated cases, says Pastor Leroy Bean of gang intervention group CARTEL.

Pastor Bean said he had personally assisted around 15 young men caught up in the gang scene to move to England since the level of gun violence began to escalate following the murder of Kumi Harford in December last year.

He said many more wanted to leave the gang life but could not afford to emigrate or were barred from leaving Bermuda because of criminal charges or convictions.

“I have helped quite a few people get overseas because they are afraid for their safety.

“Some believe they are on the list, some have had family members that have been shot and they just want to get out.”

CARTEL has a history of sending people overseas to get help with drug or alcohol addiction.

But in the past year, Pastor Bean said he was increasingly being asked for advice on emigration from young men with gang affiliations.

There are no statistics on emigration from Bermuda and it is impossible to say exactly how many people have left or for what reason.

But anecdotal evidence suggests the trend is increasing.

Mr. Peniston said his clients — Jahfari and Sadune Raynor — were far from the only youths to seek exile overseas.

“There are some people in the high risk category that are required for their own safety purposes to leave the country,” he said.

Despite the drug charges the duo, aged 16 and 17, face, Mr. Peniston said their departure from Bermuda had been above board and had been done with the knowledge of the police and in one instance, the Family Court.

He is confident the case — which relates to a drug bust at the Hamilton Princess in April — will be resolved without them having to return to Bermuda.

He said they were both believed to be on a list of names targeted for assassination.

“There is a list of names that the police are aware of – it operates in respect of the different gangs.

“We were advised that these boys were very high risk and it was in that context that an offer came to assist them in leaving the jurisdiction.

“It is hoped that they will be able to complete their education out there and that in the interim some sanity will be restored to this community and they can come home.”

Mr. Peniston said it was sad that young men had to go to such lengths to stay safe.

“It seems that young black men in Bermuda are set on a course of destruction — they are destroying each other rather than training and education themselves and improving their lot in this country.”