A New Providence man became the country’s 38th homicide for 2005 after he was stabbed to death early Friday morning, police said.
According to Inspector Walter Evans, police received a call shortly after 3am concerning a stabbing at the Waterloo nightclub on East Bay Street.
Officers discovered the lifeless body of Glen Fulford, 19, lying face up near the club’s swimming pool, police said.
Fulford has reportedly been involved in an altercation when he was stabbed in the chest and the back area.
Fulford, a resident of Colony Village, was pronounced dead on the scene, police said.
Police said they had a man in custody “assisting” them with their investigations.
Fulford’s death came days after the release of a study on homicides in The Bahamas during 1991-2003.
Police indicated in the report that the homicide rate in The Bahamas had consistently surpassed that of the US over the period on a per capita basis.
The 76-page analysis, written by Detective Corporal #2666 Chaswell Hanna, further concluded that The Bahamas’ rate at least doubled the rate of the US for eight of those years.
It further noted that in 2000 when the country observed its highest murder rate over the period studied, the US observed its lowest.
When it came to the type of area for murder, a significant amount of homicides occurred at nightclubs, the report said.
“These types of locations, where alcoholic beverages are typically served, have doubled between 1999 and 2003,” it noted.
The study pointed out that while homicide victims have been killed by the use of everyday items like telephone cords and pillows to hammers and hatchets, firearms were by far the most common type of weapon used by killers, accounting for over half (53 percent) of all murder weapons.
Knives and blunt objects followed in murder weapon popularity, accounting for 23 percent and 12 percent respectively.
But according to the study, the use of knives has increased dramatically in recent years.
In fact, the use of a knife as a murder weapon increased by 59 percent between 2002 and 2003 alone, the report said.
The study of crime victims over the period revealed that they were relatively young persons who fell in the 16-24 age range, accounting for 36 percent of all homicide victims.
Moreover, nearly half (43 percent) of homicide victims were persons under age 25, the report said.
By: Macushla N. Pinder, The Bahama Journal
