Days after the country was plunged into mourning over the loss of calypso icon Dr Leroy “Black Stalin” Calliste, his grave has been vandalised.
Calliste was given a grand Carnival-type send-off attended by hundreds on January 5. His body was interred at Paradise Cemetery in San Fernando, following a service at the Southern Academy for the Performing Arts.
News about the vandalism at his grave was met with shock, sadness and horror at the level of disrespect. However, it is suspected that the act may have been committed by a street dweller.
When Guardian Media visited the grave yesterday, the mound of dirt appeared to be disturbed, flowers were scattered and a crown which had been on top of his coffin during the service before it was placed atop the grave was damaged. However, the grave did not appear to have been dug up.
Shane Noel, a resident of San Fernando, was passing through the cemetery when he observed Calliste’s grave. “It have drug addicts, mad people passing through the cemetery, so probably one of them interfere with it. They mash-up the crown, they scatter the grave site. The flowers, they scatter it all here. It had a big crown, they mash it up,” he complained.
Disturbed by this, he said, “It is not a good thing for a man like Stalin. They disrespect his grave here.”
San Fernando Mayor Junia Regrello said the incident was unfortunate. He intends to visit the grave today to assess the situation.
“That’s what I have been saying about homeless people being a nuisance in and around the area of Harris Promenade. They are obstructionists,” he said.
Regrello said they will be taking steps to protect not only Calliste’s grave but other burial sites at the cemetery. “We will do what we have to ensure that gravesites there are protected,” he assured.
Calypsonian Steve “Ras Kommanda” Pascall, who attended Calliste’s funeral, described the incident as a travesty.
“It have to be somebody who really out of their mind. No normal person can be so enraged at the grave site of genius to desecrate it to that level. As far as I thinking, that is a travesty.”
Pascall said steps must be taken to ensure that there is no reccurrence.
“That should never happen again. It takes something to happen for something to happen. It means now that the cemeteries of significance in this country must have some form of either security and/or cameras located strategically. That man was too much of a good person to get his gravesite desecrated and in just a few days.”
He said some form of enclosure should also be erected to protect Calliste’s grave.
“People like our icons need that sort of security, they just can’t leave it as a open site. I suspect that is in train for Blackman because we did one for Ras Shorty I many years ago (at Paradise Cemetery),” he said.
When contacted yesterday, Calliste’s sister Gloria was not aware of the incident.
“That is very sad. It come like a shock to me, it shocking. Who could do that? I am just speculating maybe a homeless person because I don’t think someone in their right senses will do something like that,” she said. Calliste said she will also be visiting the grave today. “This one hit me. It make all my pores raise,” she lamented.
Attempts to reach Calliste’s wife Patsy on her cellphone were unsuccessful.