A SAD STORY FROM FAWLEY

Fawley once just a village some seven miles from Southampton now home to the latgest oil refinery in England.

The Oil jetty is 1.5 kilometres long.

 I remember the town as it was in the 1950s when  on a small coasting tanker there, the locals were friendly in those days as I found out when I got off the bus there and had to find a lift from there down to the oil jetty.

But not so sailor friendly these days it seems, on March 24 / 2008 seven boys & girls from ages 14 to 17 were charged with committing murder & grievous bodily harm in various juvenile and adult courts in Southampton. 

ON October 20, 2007 two Goan sailors Gregory Fernandes & Finod  Appa from the Motor Tanker “Garrone” were brutally attacked, they had been ashore for a walk around the town, they stopped for a coke in the  Falcon Hotel then left to go back to the ship when they were set upon by a drunken 20 strong gang of racist youths.  A passer by bravely intervened but the attack left both men badly injured, a motorist who also stopped at the scene drove the 2 men to the refinery gates were Gregory Fernandes collapsed and died.

Gregory Fernandes

Below extracts from local newspaper reports

Roger Bray, licensee of the hotel, said: 'Two men came in on Saturday and ordered one Coke between them. There was a very good atmosphere in here on Saturday night and no trouble inside the pub.

'The next thing we knew the police were closing off the road. We couldn't believe it - no one gets attacked in Fawley.'

A pall of gloom has descended on the village which has never seen such a racially-motivated attack. Hundreds of residents packed the All Saints Church over the weekend before walking to The Square, where the attack on Fernandes took place. The residents, who were joined by New Forest East MP Julian Lewis, held a two-minute silence before lighting candles.

 Reverend Barry James, who led the church service, said: 'The community is in shock. People are dismayed and ashamed of what happened here, in what is normally a quiet Hampshire village. Since he died there have been tears and a sense of shock that something like this can happen in a small, sleepy village.

'We wanted to acknowledge what happened and express our feelings of solidarity, as well as to show Gregory's family that we are remembering him and that we care.'

Local resident Christine English told the local media that the death of Fernandes had left her shocked and dismayed. She said: 'I'm stunned that an innocent visitor could have been killed - not in one of the tougher areas of the city but in a quiet New Forest village.

Fernandes' uncle, Reverend Father Diogo Fernandes, speaking to the Daily Echo, a local newspaper, from his home in Florida, appealed to those living in the community to help police trace the people responsible for attacking his nephew.  He said the sailor's death had left his family in Goa without financial security and staring at a bleak future. His parents, Floriano Fernandes, 60, and his wife Angelina, 62, regarded him as the family's main breadwinner,  the sailor's death had left his family in Goa without financial security and staring at a bleak future.

At least two local companies in Fawley and the UK Goan foundatation have started collections to help the deceased's family.

A tree was also planted in memory of the seaman at the village green.

 Extracts from local newspapers of January 2008

POLICE have finally released the body of Indian sailor Gregory Fernandes, who died after being attacked by about 20 youths in the centre of Fawley.  His remains are being returned to his home village in the coastal state of Goa, where he was a popular and respected figure.

The 32-year-old merchant seaman collapsed minutes after being attacked on October 20 last year - but police are still attempting to establish the cause of death.

Mr Fernandes's parents, Floriano and Angelina, are reported to have expressed their frustration at what they see as the lack of progress being made by police.

Det Chief Insp Scott Chilton said he and his colleagues would do everything possible to ensure that justice was done. He stressed that extensive medical inquiries were being made to pinpoint the cause of death and added: "That's part of the reason there's been a delay in this investigation."

Ten youths were arrested after the attack, but they have since been released on bail pending further inquiries. They were arrested on suspicion of murder, grievous bodily harm and violent disorder.

A post-mortem examination proved inconclusive and Detectives are awaiting the outcome of "final medical tests" conducted on the sailor's body.  The results of the tests are likely to determine what, if any, charges are brought in the investigation.

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The above story is sad in many ways the tragic events will spoil the lives of many people both the innocents and the guilty.  It makes me think how lucky we were in the days I was at sea (the 50s) we seemed to wander around anywhere in the world without to much trouble, in fact I think 99% of the trouble we got into we caused ourselves, usually through drink and bravado.

I was only ever suffered in one racist type attack, that was by a gang in Famagusta during the Eoka crisis in Cyprus, I don’t know if the gang was Greek or Turkish but it was politically inspired.

Apart from that I wandered unharmed around the fleshpots of the world.

 Whilst researching this story I came across another tragic story this time unfolding in Goa the place were the Fawley victim came from.  In February this year the body of a 15 year old English girl was found on the beach there. 

Extract from http://www.goanvoice.org.uk/

15-year-old Scarlett Keeling was found dead on Anjuna beach in north Goa, allegedly raped and murdered. The case quickly became a front page story both here in India and in Britain. At the centre has been Scarlett’s mother, Fiona MacKeown, who has been battling with the Indian authorities ever since her daughter was found, challenging initial claims that the teenager died from drowning.

MacKeown believes Scarlett was raped by more than one man and has claimed that links between police, politicians and the drugs mafia have hampered a proper investigation.

 The resulting furore has reportedly almost turned the holiday resorts of Goa into a police state as police crack down on things to show they doing something in the face of criticisms and political pressure.

A report from the Hindustan Times

Midnight curfews, music bans and police patrols are not introduced in Indian cities every time a rape or murder occurs. The high-profile Keeling case has been turned into an example, made out to be representative of a wider state of affairs in Goa, and the overall level of security there. ‘As attacks on tourists and locals grow, India is witnessing the rise of a new Goa: from a land of susegad [a term that implies leisure and relaxation], it has given rise to an industry of pimps, paedophiles and psychos’, said a report in the Hindustan Times last month.

The report estimates that at least 126 foreign nationals have died in Goa in the past two years. Forty of them were British. There was no mention, however, of what this statistic reflected — it could involve murders and drug overdoses, but also include deaths by natural causes and accidents.

At most, it perfunctorily supports the view that Goa is an unsafe place full of psycho killers.

According to Indian Ministry of Tourism statistics, over 4.4million overseas tourists visited India last year. An estimated 12 per cent - just over half a million - go to Goa (3).

So, over the past two years, 0.012 per cent of tourists in Goa have died during their visits there.

That’s roughly one in every 8,000 tourists dying from any number of different causes.

 The above figures would I think apply to most countries especially if you include elderly expats returning home for  a visit.

Still, I think that we saw the world in better times.

Terry Hales ed.