Out of an abundance of caution, THA Chief Secretary Orville London has very carefully avoided setting a precedent and in so doing has succeeded in firmly establishing Tobago and its officials as heartless, uncaring and unconscionable, concerned with protecting the tourism dependent island from visitors deliberately having themselves maimed and beaten in order to extract benefit from his abundant island in the sun. In order to protect Tobago from any such manipulative claims, he should consider posting warnings to visitors at the airport that any such skullduggery would net the plotters no gain but rather prosecution.
He may also wish to advise visitors to take out appropriate insurance coverage against injury and loss from criminality they may encounter during their stay since the island cannot afford adequate police protection for visitors. If he does not take these measures, he can be sure that foreign travel advisories will do the job for him since he has determined that to pay compensation to innocent victims is a bad precedent.
MF Rahman
Via e-mail