Deadly 50

Indeed, the miscellany of citizens who have fallen victim to crime leaves us wondering whether some ordinary action in pursuit of normal life could lead to violent death: routine such as collecting fair wages for giving a fair day’s work, plying a lawful trade, owning a car, a house or a piece of land, bumping accidentally into someone during a crowded affair, expressing disapproval of a bad drive on the roadway. And so, the question remains why the killings that have themselves become so routine.

We ask for instance, why would someone stab to death a 73-year-old woman, Cynthia Matthews, even if robbery was the motive? Who would send a youngster to brazenly murder Couva doubles vendor Ramesh “Raj” Maharaj who seemed doing nothing more than making an honest living? Why was Michael Lewis, 21, killed in the ongoing gang-warfare gripping Enterprise, before getting a chance to turn his life around? Why was a man murdered at Lopinot and his corpse dismembered? Who is next and why will they be? How much more of this can we take? Someone must analyse the real causes of each such crime, including underlying predisposing factors, so as to identify solutions to pre-empt recurrences. For example, is robbery with murder likely against someone plying a legitimate trade by criminal opportunists, by persons filled with jealous malice, or due to some unspoken grouse, with the victim in a professional or personal capacity? Police and criminologists must compile such causes of murder, the identification of which can help deter and detect other crimes, and help the ordinary citizen plan their daily lives in a way to avoid such hazards.

In apparent frustration, the Prime Minister has directly appealed to youngsters influenced or attracted by crime to think of the national grief that attends their actions, and instead seek better alternatives to their problems.

The time has come for us as a people to take a long, hard look in the mirror, fathom what is wrong with us, and identify some remedies. Some points for consideration could be: does our demographic structure create predisposing factors towards criminal/antisocial conduct? For instance, are too many of us physically crowded into small domiciles, without relief by art, poetry, music and sport? How can the engines of criminality be dismantled? How can persons recruiting youthful trigger men not be known to the police and put away, likewise those perpetrating the drugtrade, a major cause of murder? Why are some persons so easily lured into criminal conduct? Is it due to the vulnerability of the absence of fathers, a fast-buck culture, violence in music, movies and video-games, or poor impulse-control due to serotin- depletion.

Are our institutions failing? For example, does a lack dispute resolution devices, such as Small Claims Courts, or mediation for school gang violence, lead persons to seek their own solutions to perceived grievances? The adage that the causes of crime are multifaceted may be true, but cannot be an excuse for the failure to remedy this deadly onslaught.