FILE – In this Aug. 20, 2019 file photo, Scott Hapgood, right, a U.S. financial adviser charged with killing a hotel worker while on vacation in Anguilla, and his lawyer Juliya Arbisman, left, hold a media conference in New York. Hapgood declined to return to the British Caribbean territory for the latest pretrial hearing on Monday, Nov. 11, and Anguilla officials rejected an offer that he appear by video link for the hearing. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)
DARIEN, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut man charged in the death of a hotel worker he says attacked his family in Anguilla has declined to return to the British Caribbean territory for the latest pretrial hearing, a spokesman said Monday.
Scott Hapgood, of Darien, is worried about his safety in light of death threats, and Anguilla officials have not provided assurances that he would be allowed to return home on bond after the hearing, family spokesman Jamie Diaferia said.
Anguilla officials rejected an offer for Hapgood to appear by video link for Monday’s hearing, Diaferia said.
Hapgood and his family say a hotel worker, Kenny Mitchel, of Dominica, showed up at their room unannounced during their April vacation and demanded money, then attacked them. After the struggle, Mitchel died, and Hapgood was charged with manslaughter.
An autopsy report showed Mitchel died of positional asphyxia and received blunt force injuries to his torso and other areas. Diaferia said that a toxicology report was suppressed and that Mitchel was found to have drugs, including cocaine, in his system.
Hapgood appeared at previous hearings and had been released on $74,000 bond.
The case has sparked racial tensions on an island that caters to wealthy tourists.
“We understand there will be people in Anguilla who say Scott is running from a trial. That is 100 percent false,” said Juliya Arbisman, an attorney for Hapgood.
At a rally last month in Darien, supporters including U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal called on Anguilla officials to provide assurances that Hapgood would be kept safe and allowed to remain free on bond.
President Donald Trump also tweeted last month he would “be looking into” the case. Hapgood’s wife had appeared on “Fox & Friends” and urged Trump to intervene.
© Copyright 2019 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
He needs to go back and face the music. He is a foreigner subject to their laws and If he doesn’t like the Bahamas’ criminal justice system rules and procedures, too bad. He’s worried he’s not going to get bail, too bad. Under Bahamanian law, he’s not entitled to bail. He’s worried about death threats, too bad. He needs to arrange protection for himself. He should have kept his hands off that hotel worker and called hotel management and police instead. There is no stand your ground in the Bahamas. Next time, go to the U.S. Virgin Islands where you have the full rights and protections of U.S. law.
Anguilla is not the Bahamas. Mr. Hapgood did go back for hearings in Anguilla–several times. Now it turns out that, not only was the hotel employee out on bail for rape at the time he entered the Hapgood’s hotel room, but that the local authorities have concealed for months a toxicology report showing that the primary cause of death for the hotel employee was a lethal cocktail of drugs in his system–twice the legal alcohol level, more than two times enough cocaine to cause death, and THC. For the local authorities, protecting the reputation of their luxury hotel industry by blaming “the white American” for the death of a drugged up employee who should never have been allowed near guests or their children is apparently more important than due process and fairness.